HOLLINGER 
pH 8.5 

MILL RUN F3-1543 



E 423 FORNIA, TERRITO RIAL GOV ERNMENTS, Ike. 

.F687 

Copy 1 REMARKS 

HON. MR. F()OTE, OF x\llSSlSSlPPI, 



T/ie Plan of aJJu.sti/iit the (jucatio/i^ growing out of S/areri/. nporlcil from the specixil 
committee of the Senate. 

DELIVKRKD li\ THE SKNATE, MAY 15, Itl, AND Jn, \<^\. 



Wednesday, Maij 15, 1850. 

The Senate having under consideration ilie order < 
of the day, to w'it, the bill to admit California as a , 
StatQ into the Union, to estal>lish Territorial Gov- 
ernments for Utah and New iVlexir.o, and making , 
proposals to Texas fi>r the establishment of her , 
western and nothern boundaries — and the debate 
having proceeded as published in the Congres- j 
sional Globe — 1 

Mr. FOOTE said: Itis with feelings of profound 
regret that I have witnessed the progress of a de- 
bate so little, as it seems to me, marked with that 
spirit of reciprocal moderation and forbearance so 
important to a pacific and satisfactory settlement 
of existing difterences lieiween the northern and 
Bouthcrn sections of the Confedeiacy. There was ; 
a period in our legislative history — there have been 
occasions — when I thought it easy to perceive a 
disposition, extending through most of the free 
States of the North, and strongly manifested upon | 
this floor also, to assail the rights of the South 
with oppressive and unauthorized legislation, and 
to harass the sensibilities of southern men with i 
gross discourtesy and insult. On such occasions 
1 have been, like others, provoked to the employ- 
ment of retaliatory language, and to the declara- 
tion of sentiments which it is painful now even to 
be compelled to bear in remembrance. I had 
hoped that a season had at last arrived when we I 
would be able to consult togetlur calmly, and to \ 
interchange our views freely without resorting at 
all to thelanguageof crimination and censure; and : 
I trust that what we have just witnessed will turn 
out to be nothing more than the effervescence of i 
the moment, to be presently succeeded by feelings j 
more propitious to profitable discussion. The [ 
specimen of heated declamation with which the 
honorable Senator from Florida [Mr. Yulee] has i 
so unseasonably supplied us 

Mr. YULEE. If the honorable Senator will ] 
permi' me, I will say that 1 had not the slightest ! 
desire to offer reproach. On the contrary, I have i 
great respect for the motives wliich influence tlie ! 
committee in their labors. I am sure it would be [j 
very far from my purpose, and very far from any 
feelings which animate me, to express as strongly 
as might be, and as plainly as might be, my own 
opinions in reference to this matter. 

Mr. FOOTE. I do not at all doubt the honor- 
able Senator's disinclination, as just avowed by 
him, to awaken unpleasant feelings in any quar- 
ter, and I wish I could say that his language wos 



in perfect harmony with Ins) intention-i; bull muat 
yet insist that whit.he has thought proper to utter 
on thiso^icasion is, ih my judgment, far from being 
of a complaisant and conciliatory character, as 1 
do not doubt he will himself discover to be the 
case, when he shall rend a faithful report of his 
spoken words. 

Mr. President, I am not at all surprised that the 
Senator from Florida has been betrayed into the 
use of somewhat exorbitant language, nor that he 
should have evinced that special irritability of 
feeling which his marked all that has fullen from 
him m the course of this debate. He has just 
now voted for liiying the whole bill upon the table, 
upon a motion which was designed to be fatal to 
this measure, with a view to brmgmg forward the 
California bill us a separate proposition. For 
weeks have we been struggling to ward off from 
j the South the dishonor andinjustice which we be- 
lieved would result from the admission of Califor- 
nia separately, apart from those compensating 
advantages which we believed would result from 
a general plan of compromise, the adoption of 
which might permanently settle all those distract- 
ing questions which have so long disturbed the pub- 
lic quiet, and placed the vital interests of the South 
in such imminent danger. We had, after passing 
through scenes of excitement such as the country 
has seldom witnessed, at last succeeded; the Cali- 
fornia bill had been blended with a bill for estab- 
lishing territorial governments simply, irithoul the 
M^lmot proviso, together with a proposition to es- 
tablish the boundary line between Texas and New 
Mexico. Upon the motion to lay the joint bill 
upon the table, with a view to taking up the Caii- 
fornia l>ill by itself, the Senatur from Florida voted 
with the adversaries of the South, and was very 
near being the only southern Senator who did so. 
Who could doubt the honorable Senator being by 
no mean."} in a compromising mood, after thus re- 
fusing to the friends of the present measure even 
the ordinary facilities for ameliorating its provis- 
ions before the period for its final a-Jo'ption or re- 
jection should have arrived ? Who can feel the 
least surprise at his having given us a speech so 
much more declamatory than argumentative, and 
abounding with phraseology anything but respect- 
ful and gracious? Let it never be forgotten, that 
it is the Senator from Florida who has so unne- 
cessarily and unseasonably a'lempted to close the 
door of compromise; that it is he who has virtu- 
ally said to our northern brethren: "I will not 



/o 



889 






interchange Tratemal sentimenta with you, with a I 
view to the mljustmenl of questions which Imve 
placed the liiion itself in serious tIanKer; I will 
not partioiji.if in a plan of settlement which is 
intendtJ lo n.siue the South itself from spoliation 
and ravage; I prefer discord to harmony; scenes ! 
of blood and vioUi)ce to domestic peace and secu- 
rity, and the undisturbed enjoyment of those fne 
insiitutions which our noble foi'^fathers have pro- '' 
vided for us." 

Mr. President, I shall endeavor, in what I have 
to say, to avoid the least approximation to the ex- 
ample wliich has licen set us by the honorable 
Senator from F'lorida, and shall exert myself as 
zealooily as possible in ihut work of pacification 
which is now in such hopeful jirogress. The 
question pi-esented to us by the amendment of my 
honorable colleague is certainly one of some deli- 
cacy. Tlie points which have been drawn into 
discussion, m connection with that amendment, 
are both interesting and important, but certainly 
not at all new, either to the Senate or to the coun- 
try. There are b'lt few of our intelligent citizens ' 
who have not mad'j up, already, a definite and sat- 
isfactory opinion upon the igreat question whether 
the Mexican laws abolishmg slavery are now ' 
rightfully in force in those territorial possessions i 
recently acquired from the Mexican republic; and , 
most of them have made up their minds also touch- ^ 
ing the probability of African slavery going into ; 
New Mexico, ITt;ih, and California, if unprohib- 
ited by law. Our able jurists North and South 
have argued tlie legal quesiion, both orally and in 
writing, and there seems to be about as much 
diversity of opinion in regard to it as has ever i 
marked a controversy of this character. It is my 
own good or ill fortune to have adopted views of a • 
very ultra southern cast, both in relation to the ' 
present validity of the Mexican laws referred to, , 
and in reference to the adapledness to slave ; 
labor of the wliole of that vast region stretch- ; 
ing from what were until lately the western limits 
of the United Statts to the remote Pacific coast. 1 . 
know that the opinions of the honorable Senator 
from Kentucky [Vlr. Clay] have been expressed 
on several occasions in opposition to those which ' 
I entertain, both u|ion the quesiion of law and fact. | 
Nor do 1 attach only slight importance to these | 
opinions of the honorable Senator from Kentucky. 
His years, his high character, his extended intlu- ' 
cnce, impart to his opinions, upon all questions 
connected with the administration of our public 
concern*, an imposing dignity of which 1 am most 
profoundly sensible. Hut, sir, high as is my respect | 
for the intellectual fucultiea of the honorable Sena- . 
tor from Kentucky and his public character, I can- 
not unite with the honoralde Senator from Florida 
in that conclusion to which hescemstohavearrivcd, 
that the simple enunciation of his views by the 
Senator from Kentu<ky, in the cour.'^c of debate 
here, is sufficient to setije at once :iny question 
concerning which he may be called upon to pro- 
nounce, and that the conclusions of his mind, when 
once Hi>lemnly declared, carry with them such irre- {, 
«iBtible aulkorily that it i^ both presumptuous and < 
vain for any other human being to gainsay them. ] 
This i^ a s'>rt of deference that I have never yet t 
rendered to any man, living or (^tad, and which I j 
should be somewhat ashamed to avow, even were ' 
I capable of fe«!;iig it. I 

1 cannot take it for granted, as the Senator from 



' Florida seems to do, that if we adopt this measure 
of compromise the opinion of the honorable Sena- 
tor from Kentucky, touching the validity of the 
Mexiam laws abolishing slavery in our newly- 
acquired territories, will at once become the uni- 
versal opinion of the country, and even so far 
operate towards the settlement of the question 
practically against the South as to call for special 
' preventive legislation on the part of Congress. 
After all, the honorable Senator from Kentucky is 
but a single individual; a highly distinguished one 
truly, and as such entitled to great consideration. 
But he is not a judicial officer for the decision of 
the question referred to; and were he even upon 
the bench, it would be still possible for him to err 
in deciding it. Judges have often done so hereto- 
fore; and we should not forget that Blackstone has 
told us that the opinion of the court and the law 
are not convertible terms, since it oftenlin^es 
happens that the judge mistakes the law. 

But, sir, has the Senator from F'lorida forgotten 
that a large number of gentlemen of the legal pro- 
fession, as eminent as any jurists in America, have 
asserted it to be their opinion that the treaty of 
Guadalupe Hidalgo, coupled wiih the act of con- 
quest, carried the Constitution of the United 
Slates, with all its high guarantees, into all the 
ceded territory, and that thus the Mexican laws 
were at once repealed, by reason of their incon- 
sistency with the organic law of the Republic' I, 
at least, have not forgotten the able debates on 
this question which have occurred, at different 
periods, in the two Houses of Congress. I yet 
bear in vivid remembrance the able, unanswered, 
and, in my judgment, unanswerable argument of 
the honorable Senator from Georgia, over the way, 
[Mr. Berrien,] made in this body, when this 
point was comparatively new among us. I recol- 
lect still more freshly a second argument from the 
same gentleman, only a month or two since, in 
direct response to the honorable Senator from 
Kentucky himself, and in which, as I think, and 
as southern men have generally thought, he made 
good all the positions which he assumed. But has 
the honorable Senator from Florida forgotten the 
potent argumentation upon this question with 
which we have been favored at difft-rent times, by 
the honorable Senator from South Carolina, [Mr. 
CiLHOUiV,] now no longer among us? Has he 
forgotten liow strongly he expressed himself, on 
all occasion.', upon this point.' Why, sir, we 
cannot forget — I trust that none of us ever will 
cease to remember — that scene in this Chamber 
when the Ipmented personage referred to made the 
last decJaration of his opinion touching the validity 
of these Mexican laws, which the honorable Sen- 
ator from Florida seems to suppose have recently 
acquired a sort of posthumous vitality. It was 
when the honorable Senator from Massachusetts 
had concluded his late masterly speech "pon the 
Wilmot proviso, and other kindred topics, that 
the illustrious statesman alluded to rose, and, with 
a .«cowl of manly indignation which imjiarted a 
peculiar and irresistbile energy to his words, de- 
nounced what he described as " the consummate 
folly of citing the Mexican law prohibiting slavery 
in New Mexico and California." 

Sir, I agreed with this great man then as to the 
nullity of the Mexican law prohibiting slavery. I 
agree with him yet; for in the tomb he is as high 
authority — yea, higl cr than he was in life. I 



Bolemnly believe that there has been no Mexican I The very terms used by the honorable Senator 
law sinre the completion of our territorial con- Ij from Florida are to me most alarming. He de- 
quests in that i^art of the world which could olVer ji manda a law preservative of slavery in the tcrrito- 
the least im[.fdiment to our slaveholdini^ popula- i rics; he cries out for concessions in regard to sln- 
tion of the South in any attempt which they might i' very to be made by Congress to the South, and 
feel inclined to make to enter within the limits of i^ complains most vehemently that the honorable 
California and New Mexico, attended by their ! Senator from Kentucky has avowed his unwilling- 
slaves as property, and as property, too, secured ! ness to vote for a law for the extension of slavery. 



by the most efTc'Ctual of all guarantees — to wit, ' 
that of the Constitution of the flepuhlic itself. , 
Such is the opinion, 1 am persuaded, of every 
member of that very able bur who control the (uib- '' 
lie judgment in regard to sucii questions in the [ 
Stale which I have the honor in [-.nrt to represent 
upon ihis floor. Sucii was the deliberately ex- 
pressed opinion of our IMississippi Southern Con- 
vention, which assembled last autumn, the pro- 
ceedinss of which have been several times brought 
to the special attention of this ijoily hy my honor- 
able colleague and myself. Knowios: these facts, 
it was but nalural tliat I should ftel a little surprise 
that the honorable Senator irom Florida should in- 



tlie l.-ist .' 
the cilizi; 
■rtv into 



timate his apprehension that the pre.'sent state of |i tiiis aiidrus 
the lav/ in New Mexico and Utah was such as to 
make it indispensably necessary that Congress 
should interfere and afford special protection to ij ti,p Uninn. 
slave property in those territories, in order to save , ii iv w rc-marlx> 
it from destruction by the operation of Mexican |; he the issue 
laws, which we have been all along thinking and 
contending wereabsolutely defunctand inoperative. 
Sir, I am deeply grieved at beholding the at- 



What! says he, is the Senator from Kentucky 
not willing to aid in extending slavery to the ter- 
ritories ? Does he so abhor the system that he is 
unwilling to extend it? Does he regard it as of a 
nature so contaminating that its extension would 
be to dishonor and degrade the whole territorial 
surface over which it misht spread itself? Well, 
sir, I confess that this is very strange langunge tO 
me, coming as it does from one of the signers of 
our famous Southern Address, from the pages of 
which I beg leave to read a few lines. What I 
cite will be found upon the 6ih and 9ih pages of 
the Address : 

Wc do not deem it necessary, look inc to the object of 



bet 



iii'tlii: qiii:-lion t^o fiilly di^cu?srd 

,■ ' II. I < i:i_'i - has the right to e.iclude 

- . :: I iM i:'raling wiUi their propi- 

; "I cofifiMlerated Stales* of 

iM' . |ir. , - I' liii-coniicctloii is, to make 
II what thi- iNcirlh alleges, erroneously, to 
keen us and them. 



"So far from niainlaiiiin!! the doctrine, whicti tJie issue 
implies, we hold ihat iho Federal Government lias no rigtU 
l'« extend or restrict slavery, no more than to establish or 
abolish it ; nor has it any ri-jhl whatever to distinguish bc- 
tempt which seems to be making in certain quar- ■; tween the domestic insiitmious of one State, or section, and 
rpr<! in liBiph int,-i pvisipnop n Qni-f of c.^,, , horn li "''o'l'"! '" '"■'^•''' •" •a^""' i''« o"c and discOnrage the other, 
ters to hatch into exigence a sort ot southern ]! a, the federal n-presmiatives of e.ich and all the Statu.-., it 
Wilmot proviso. Believing, as I do, most firmly, ■. j,, bound to .leal out, within the sphere of its pnwert, equal 
that Congress has no authority to legislate on the 1 and exact justice and f:ivoi to all. To act otherwise, to 
subject of slavery in the territories— no tnore than > undertake to di.-criniinaiel.euveen the domestic institutions 
It iias to decree the abolition of slavery in the 
States' themselves — I am inexpressibly pained to ij 
see the doubt which is about to be thrown upon '! 
this point by the action of southern men them- \'< 
selves. To claim that Congress shall legislate for ;' 



I] of one and anollier, wonld he to act in total subversion of 
:1 the end for whith it \v s established— to be the common 
" protector :>.ml ijiiaidian (if all. Entertainin-: these opinions, 
we ask not. as the North alleges we do, for the extension of 
slavery. That wonld make a discrimination in our favori 
as unjust and unconstitutional as the discrimination they 
ask asainsl us in their favor. It is not for them nor for the 
Federal Government to determine whether our domestic 
institution is good or bad, or whether it should be repressed 
or preserved." It belongs to us, and us only, to decide such 
questions. What, then, we do insist on is, not to extend 
slavery, but that we shall not be prohibited from immigra- 
tlns with our p'opcrty into the If rrilories of the United 
States because wo are'slavelinlders; or, in other words, that 
we shall not on that account be disfranchised of a privilege 
possessed by all others, citizens and foreig! er , without dis- 
crimination as to ci'tiracler, profession, or color. .Ml, 
whether savage, barliaiinn, or eiviliz^'d, may freely euter 
and remain, we only being <.\cluded." 

Yes, sir, this is the precise language of our own 
far-famed Southern Address. You perceive that 
its author treat.? the charge of our being desirous 
of extendin? sl.^very by congressional legislation 
as a gross slander upon the South. Yet the hon- 
orable Senator from Florida not only now contends 
legislation to give it validity. The Constitution \, that this sl'.all be done, but complains most vehe- 
being the paramount law, no act of Corigress can | mently that others will not join him in his .<urpris- 
impart to it the least additional potency; and to || ing demand. The Southern Address accuses the 
seek such puny aid is to treat the organic law of :| North of misstating the issue between it and the 
the land with a species of contempt which seems i! South. A southern man, this moment in our 

When ;i hearing, has made the same presentation of iho 



the admission of slaveiy into the territories, orihat 
we shall legislate specially for the prnleciion of this 
-• institution therein, appears to me to -A-^sfM a power 
in Congress which, in its future exercise, cannot 
but be f^atal to the institution of .slavery, whereso- 
ever existing. To urge that such an exerci.^e of 
power by Congress is necessary to the introduc- 
tion of slaves into the territories, without which 
they must be subject to confiscation, is to admit, 
by the plainest implication, the entire want of any 
constitutional right on the part of the slaveholders 
of the South to go into these territories, attended 
by (heir slaves, and to claim their recognition as 
property. It is simply the grossest absurdity to 
«uppose that a purely constitutional right can need 
the countenance and sanction of an act of ordinary 
The Co ■ • 



to argue at least a sross confusion of idea? 



the Senator from Florida asks protection for slave ;j sectional issue which the Southern Address de- 
property in the territories, he plainly calls in ques- |j nounces as a misstatement of that issue. The 



tion the right of the owner of slaves to carry them 
such into the territories, whilst the present legal 



honorable Senacor from Florida contends that Con- 
rress is bound to j^ass laws presen'alive of slavery. 



regulations continue; for, if no laws now exist '' The address says: "It is not for them (the north- 
therein prohibiting slavery, which are not them- ' cm people) nor for the Federal Government to 
selves in vfilid, then we arc not in the least degree 'determine whether our domestic institution is 
in need of the amendment urged upon ua by him. ' good or bad, or whether it should be repressed 



'or prtserttd." Such are a few of the amusin|s: I ment, be a mere nullity; and so would the courts 
inconsisiencies into which the honorable Senator I of the country be bound to pronounce, were the 
from Florida has had the fortune to involve him- | question raised before them. If territorial legis- 
self upon this occasion. i lation,;)ro(ec/ii'e of slavery, should be subjected 

For my part, Mr. President, I feel no particular to the same test, I cannot douin that .«uch legisla- 
dtsire that any restriction whatever sliould be im- i^ tion would be held valid. It really, therefore, 
posed by us upon the territorial governments in , does seem to me, I repeat, much better to adopt 
regard to legislating on tlie subject or slavery. 1 / no restriction upon this subject at all, and to leave 
will state my reasons for feeling this indifference. [I the whole subject to the territorial governments 
J am not of opinion that these governments would |l and the courts. 

have a right to legislate for the extension or for the j; Certainly, if climate, soil, and mineral produc- 
aboliiion of slavery, even though no prohibition jl tions are such in the territories to be supplied 
should be imjiosed upon them. Jn this opinion I J with governments as to make the introduction of 
mwy be regarded by some as a little ultra; but I il slaves desirable, it is better for the South that no 
have adopted it deliberately, and I certainly con- j restriction should be imposed; for there is no in- 
sider it as quite capable of being maintained by ! stance in this hemisphere of slave labor being 
fair argument. J admit as freely as any one, not jj found highly profitable in which it ha.s not been in- 
excepting my honorable friend from Michigan, |; troduced, if legal barriers to its introduction were 
[Mr. Cass,] that all just government arises from i| not provided. If it should be introduced, it might 
the consent of the governed; that every commu- ij be found expedient to legislate for its protection 
nity, whether numbering five hundred or five 'i and cherishment, which vvould be, perhaps, more 
hundred thousand, has a right to adopt such so- jj or less obstructed by any restriction upon territo- 
cial regulations for its own protection and preser- H rial legislation which could be devised. On the 
vation as may be actually necessary to the at- | other hand, if climate, soil, and mineral produc- 
tainment of the high purposes named; but yet I \\ tions are of a nature to make slaves not at all de- 
contend that no regulation, not indispensably ne- i' sirableon the score of pecuniary profit, they would 
cessary to the self-preservation of such commu- ij certainly never be introduced; and therefore the 
nity, can be legitimately adopted, the adoption of 'i restriction would be wholly unnecessary. In any 



which involves the destruction of importan 
righu of other communiiics or individuals, where- 
Boeverexisiing. Apply these principles to the peo- 
ple inhabiting our territories. They have a right 
to institute 
lection. I 



point of view I should prefer a simple territorial 
government without the Wilmot proviso, leaving 
to the people who inhabit the territories the 
power to regulate all their dome.stic concerns in a 
; a government for their own self-pro- jj manner conformable to the Federal Constitution, 
ndeed, I have always thought that it is |i Yet if my friends from the South, with one of 
by them alone that legitimate government, as : whom, as a member of the Committee of Thirteen, 
such, can be established; though long acquies- ■! the jiarticular clause under consideration is said to 
eence in the exercise of such a power on the part 1 have originated, conclude to insist upon some re- 
of Congress may perhaps justify its exercise now, jj striction upon territorial legislation being imposed 
under such circum.'itances as those which at pres- : by Congress, I, who really am more inclined to 
ent surround us. But then the sovereign States ' aid in securing a settlement of all existing ques- 
of this Union have a right to enjoy and dispose !j tions upon honorable and satisfactory terms, thati 
of the whole territorial domain of the Republic, I solicitous to have the whole of my own particular 
and the citizens of all the States have a right to [ views embodied in the plan of compromise, shal'; 
equal participancy in the enjoyment thereof, which I be willing to vote for the restrictive clause con- 
cannot be cither denied or contravened without i| tended for in almost any form which it can be 
the grossest injustice. The citizens of all the ' made to assume. I beg leave to suggest, though, 
States have a right to remove within the limits of ' that, if we decide not to retain the original words 
these territories with any property which they now proposed to be stricken out, instead of adopt- 
possess, and which is recognized by the Con.'?titu- ; ing the amendment of my honorable colleague, 



tion of the Union, either generally or specially 
and to demand recognition and protection of it as 
such from the territorial government, so soon as 
it shall have been established. The abolition or 
exclusion of slavery from the limits of the territory, 
is not at all indispensable lo the needful ends of 
government. Therefore, the territorial government, 
established, a.s it must be, under the paramount 
authority of the Federal Consiitution, can liave 
no authority to interpose impedimenis to the en- 
joyment of the full rights of property in slaves, as ; 
secured by the Consiitution, but is bound to con- 
aider i I. self as under the most binding obligation 
to preserve such rights of property inviolate, to i 
the full extent of its capacity to do so. Enter- 
taining this view of the matter, I confess that l' 
can see no necessity for any restriction being i 



iiich seems to me not to be exactly as explicit as 
I should wish it to be, we in.sert these words, or 
words tantamount thereto: "cither admitting or 
excluding African slavery." This change in the 
phraseology of the bill will not at all alter its 
meaning, but might avoid misinterpretation — mis- 
interpretation to which I know the present |)hrase- 
ology has been already subjected. I am sure that 
1 could confidently appeal to all the members of 
the Committee of Thirteen upon this point, and 
obtain from each of them a declaration that what 
they meant to do was simply to prevent the terri- 
torial government from legislating either for the 
admission or exclusion of slavery; and, in fact, 
these will be found to be the very words employed 
by the honorable Senator from Kentucky, on 
Monday last, in exposition of this part of the plan 



poaed by Congress uron the territorial govern- ' of compromise. [Here Mr. CLAY,'Mr. CASs,'and 
ment about to be catablishcd " in respect lo the '! Mr. Downs, all nodded assent.] 
system of African nlavery." If ii should under- j Before I bring these rather desultory remarks to 
lake to legislate for the prohibition or excluKion , a close, it is due to the honorable Senator from 
«f •latery, such legislation would, in my judg- i F'iorida that 1 Rhould notice r fact in hia own 



political history of which he appeals to have be- 
come strangely oblivious. That gentleman was one 
of the most zealous champions of what was known 
among us, two years ago, as the Clayton compro- 
mise bill; which bill contained no such provision 
for the special recognition of slave property in the 
territorits as that which he now advocates. Yet 
the honorable Senator from Florida was then, as 
I have said, its earnest champion, and united with 
me and others in censuring those who defeated it 
in the House of Representatives. Then the honor- 
able gentlemen, following the lead of the venerable 
Senator from South Carolina [Mr. Calhoun] — 
Teucro duce — was perfectly content with providing 
governments for the territories, without a word 
being said in reference to slavery of the character 
now demanded liy him — relying upon the courts 
for the final adjiidioaiion of the great question in- 
volved. Since that lime he has seen new lights. 
The doctrine of the Wilmot school of politicians 
appears to have arrayed itself in new terrors to 
his fancy, and he now not only demands special 
safeguards against territorial legislation, but insist.s 
that Congress shall legislate on the subject of sla- 
very for the protection of the South. Is it possi- 
ble that the honorable Senator can fail to perceive 
the egregious inconsistency of his own course i' Is 
he blind enough not to discern the danger which 
lurks in the proposition which he now advocates? 
Can he doubt that if we once allow Congress to 
legislate on the subject of slavery at all, the whole 
s'ystem of African slavery, as it now exists in the 
South, will be speedily overwhelmed by that tide of 
abolition which the sagncious statesmen of the 
South have been constantly struggling to repel .' 
Indeed, 1 am grieved that this attempt to enlist 
Congress in a course of legislation on the subject 
of slavery in the territories of the Union, should 
have originated with a southern Senator. 

Mr. YULEJ5. I shall trespass but a very few 
moments upon the attention of the Senate. I shall 
not engage in any controversy with the Senator 
from Mississippi respecting the consistency of my 
present position and the views I express with any 
part of my previous action. The opinions and 
course of one so humble are not important enough 
to the country or to this body to be worthy of dis- 
cussion here. I am content to believe that there 
is entire harmony in the opinions I have enter- 
tained upon the issues which divide the two sec- 
tions from their inception, and will leave it to those 
who may find it deserving their time to scan the 
fecord of my course. 

1 will prefer to address myself directly and 
singly to the precise question before the Senate. 
Sir, the Senator, as 1 conceive, has not touched the 
argument of the remarks which I offered. What 
was it.' 



olTered no concession at all, for it gave us nothing 
more than we have now without i7ie bill of com- 
promise. I proposed thus to show that thii bit! 
had not the character of acompromiae, if nothing 
more was meant than was stated by thi' chairman. 
That, sir, was the gi.st of the brief argument I 
offered; and that \icw of the question has not, I 
repeat, been touched by the Senator from Missia- 
sippi. 

1 am quite aware that there are differences of 
opinion with regard to the extent to which the 
Mexican laws operate in the lately-acquired terri- 
tories. I know opinions differ a.s to whether the 
Mexican lasvs inhibiting slavery belong to the 
class denominated political, or to those which are 
municipal, and whether the casual opinions ex- 
pressed by the Supreme Court, which have been 
often referred to in this body, reach these laws. 
Why, sir, if the opinion of one so humble had 
been worthy to be borne in mind, the Senator 
from Mississippi might have recollected, that aCan 
early period of the controversy, [endeavored in mjr 
humble way to express my own judgment against 
the legal continuance of the Mexican laws abol- 
ishing slavery, after the jurisdiction and sover- 
eignty of the United States once took effect in the 
newly-acquirtd territories. 

But, sir, however that may be, it seems to be 
foreign to the intention of the committee to give 
us in this bill any distinct declaration of our right 
to he protected in our property. Well, now, what 
is it that I have demanded? I have demanded 
that if the South is required to concede the ad- 
mission of California, and if all the other conces- 
sions required of us are to be made, at least the 
North shall concede a distinct, unequivocal, un- 
mistakable, and pdpable recosnition of their full 
ri^ht to colonize in these and other territories with 
th*eir slaves. That is all. And 1 say that unless 
this recognition of right is made distinctly and 
palpably, there is no concession, and the bill leaves 
our rights where they are now — to be contested at 
the private cost and hazard of those of our emi- 
grants who may find themselves involved in the 
meshes of this disputed right. 

Now, sir, a single remark in respect to the allu- 
sion which the "Senator made to the Southern 
Address. I am happy to learn from him that 
he desire.9 to stand now where he did when he 
united in sanctioning that address, and that he will 
abide the principles promulgated in it. 1 am glad 
to be able to say to him that I, too, adhere to that 
platform, and will continue to stand there witk 
him. But he will find, upon further considera- 
tion, that there is a very wide difference between 
the power to inhibit or establish slavery upon the 
one hand, and the duty of the Government to pro- 



was It? 1 was seeking to discover whether there jj ted this, no less than other descriptions of prop- 
was in the section under consideration any conces- 1 erty, everywhere within the territorial jurisdic- 



tion of theUnited States, on the other hand . 

Mr. HAl.E. Mr. President 

Mr. FOOTE. I am sure that the honorable 
Senator from New Hampshire will give me an 



sion to the South. I pointed first to the opinion 

expressed by the Senator from Kentucky, who 

was chairman of the committee, as indicating that 

it was not the intention of the committee to give 

any distinct recognition to the right of South- opportunity to reply. , . . li 

ern emigrants to be protected in their slave prop- ! Mr. HALE. It is so rarely that the honorable 

erty within the territories created by the bill, so 

far as the phraseology of the section would operate; j 

and, next, I declared that, if it was the purpose i ^ ■ . a 

of the section simply to throw our people upon the t for his courtesy in yielding the floor. 

assertion of their rights, under the Constitution, i| ident, I regret that I have not the happinesalo 

where the Mexican laws were in conflict, then it harmoni/.e in opinion with certain worthy mets- 



Senator from Mississippi asks that favor of me 
that I will accord it to him. [Laughter.] 

Mr FOOTE. I thank the honorable Senator 
" Mr. Pre«- 



bers of this body with whom I have been in the 
httbit heretofore o( cooperating. But, whatever 
difference of opinion may exist between ub, I 
trust that no unkindness or estrangement of feel- 
ing will riow therefrom. I am resolved, at any 
rate, iliat it thall not be my fault if angry collisions 
and permanent separation shall take [ilacc between 
those who have been heretofore tViendly and united 
in stniimcnt and in action. Coins; assured that 
my own motives are .such as should guide my 
conduct at this moment in the very re.s|ionsible 
position which I occupy, I shall not be over sensi- 
tive to anything which may be said in opposition 
to my views; and I shall not easily lake it for 
granted that any of tliose southern Senators who 
may be found voting for nmendmenis to the bill 
which 1 cannot sanction, have been actuated in 
introducing them by sinister motives of any sort. 
A fair and manly opjiosiiion to the measures under 
consideration, in all its stages, was to be expected 
on the part of those who may not approve it; 
thoui;h 1 acknowledge that I can see very little in 
it to cause alarm in the bosoms either of northern 
or southern Senators. 1 trust that it will be taken 
in no oflTensive sense if 1 declare my convictions 
that if this plan of compromise shall be defeated 
by the action of southern gentlemen, and we have 
California admitted as a separate measure, those 
who shall be understood to have been elTicientiy 
instrumental in bringing about this result will 
have an amount of responsibility thrown upon 
them very difficult to be met. 1 hope that they 
will yet pause before they resolve to reject an 
opportunity of quieting the country and settling 
all the questions which now di.'^turb its repose, 
upon terms alike honorable to both sections of the 
Confederacy. 
Mr. F. gave way for a motion to adjourn. 

Thursday, May 16, 1850. 
The same .subject bein? under consideration — 
Mr. FOOTE continued his remarks as follows: 
Mr. President, I stated, on yesterday, in'response 
to the Senator from Florida, the views which I 
enteriained touching the question which has been ] 
ao freely discussed on this occasion, in regard to j 
the validity, at the present time, of the Mexican 
laws abolishing slavery in our newly-acquired 
territories. I rea.«serted the doctrine promulgated ; 
in the Southern Address, and endeavored to show ] 
that the Senator from Florida had placed himself! 
in conflict with that doctrine. I cited as authority 
especially held in respect by me the address put 
forth by the convenlion, lately held in the State ' 
of Mississippi, out of who.oe proceedings origin- ' 
»Ud the scheme of the Southern Convenlion 
nhortly to assemble in Nashville. 1 stated what 1 
understood to be the opinions, on various occa- 
sions declared here by several distinguished mem- , 
bers of our body, including the lute illustrious 
Senator from South Carolina, [Mr. Calhoun,] 
who, wiiilsl living, enjoyed .vo much of the public 
respect, and whose character and sage teachings 
come to U8 now, as it were, canonized from the 
tomb. In confirmation of all that 1 have hereto- 
fore said upon this subject, and with the view of 
effectually relieving the unni.siruFs whicii seems 
to oppress the mind of ihc Seiiaidr from Florida, 
in regard to the overwhelminj; inducnce whicli he 
fearr is to be cx<ried upon the publir judgment of 
the country by the opinion ejt pressed by the hon- 



i orable Senator from Kentucky, [Mr. Clav^] in 
[ favor of the validity of the.se Mexican laws, I will 
now read a short extract from that admirable ad- 
dress to the people of the southern Stales, which 
emanated durina: the last summer from tlie pen of 
I one to whose authority, when living, the Senator 
from Florida was understood to pay more than 
ordinary deference. I allude to Mr. Calhoun: 

''There is .another error akin to tliis, llat the Mexican 
l.iw atmlishini; slavery is still in force in New Mexico and 
Calilbrnia, when not a piiiiilc of its auihoriiy or sover- 
eignty remains in either. 'I heir coipqin si by us, and the 
treaty that followed, t-xlinsuislied the whole, and with il 
anniilled all her laws applicable to thcni, except those ri la- 
tin;; to such rights of pinpiuty and relaiions bi iween indi- 
viduals as may be nfccs.-ary to prevent anarchy ; and even 
these are continued only by stijfurunce, and on the implied 
authority of the coiujucrin^ cowiiry, and not the authority oj 
the conquered, aiid only from the necessity of the case. 
Her laws abolishing slavery are not embraced in the excep- 
tion, and, if it were, it would be taken out of it, as the 
assent of L'ontrress could not hi; implied to continue a law 
which it had no right to establish. 

" But still higher ground may be taken. The moment the 
territory becomes ou s, the Oon^tiliilion pas^(■s over and 
covers the whole, with all its provisiuns, whi( h. from their 
nature are applicable to territories, carrjing with it the joint 
sovereignty and auihoriiy of each and all Uie States of the 
Union, and sweeping away every Mexican law inciimpati- 
lile with the rights, property, and rcfhaions belonging to the 
citizens of the Uinled States, without n gard to what Stale 
they belong, or whetlier it he situated in the northern or the 
southern section of the Union. The <-iliz.:ns of aJI have 
equal rights of proti cti<ui in their property, relations, and 
person, in the common territories of each and all the States. 
'J'he same power that swept away all the laws «t Mexico 
which made the Ca-holic religion the excluMve religion of 
Ihe country, and which let in the religion of all denomina- 
tions—which swept away all the laws prohibiting Ihe intro- 
duction of property of almost every riescri|)tion,some abso- 
lutely, and others under the condition of paying duties, and 
letting Ibem in duly free until otherwise piovied for, swept 
that which abolished slavery, and let in property in slaves. 
No distinction can be made between it and any other de- 
scription of property or thing, consistently with the Constitu- 
tion and the equal rights of the several Stales of the Union 
and their citizens." 

Mr. President, 1 have not concurred with some 
of my friends upon this floor, and elsewhere, who 
have from time to lime expressed strong dissatis- 
faction and regret at the conflict of opinion which 
has arisen among the distinguished statesmen and 
jurists of the Republic, in the two opposite sec- 
tions of the Union, in regard to ihe validity of the 
Mexican laws abolishing slavery. On the con- 
trary, I have been gratified to discover that this 
diversity of opinion existed, because from it I have 
felt authorized to deduce the strongest hopes of 
the ultimate adjustment of that fierce controversy 
which has so long kept the country in a state of 
painful uncertainty. Permit me to explain a little 
upon this point. Whilst northern men continue 
to entMtain the opinion that domestic slavery iio 
already shut out by existing laws from our recently- 
acquired territories, they will feel strongly inclined 
to unite with the distinguished Senator fiom Mas- 
sachusetts in recognizing the Wilmot proviso as n 
I mere abstraction, unnecessary to be adopted, and 
will confidently rely upon the judicial tribunals of 
I the country for the final decision of this question, 
[ should it arise for adjudication; whereas, southern 
' men, entertaining an opposite opinion — regarding 
I these same Mexican laws as already abolished and 
I rendered inoperative — will with equal confidence 
I rely upon the saine judicial tribunals foradjudica- 
i lion in favor of the South. Thus the two extremes 
can well meet upon ihe middle ground of the Con- 
' stitution, and, as patiiols, be able to cooperate in 
tlie establisliment of territorial governments, with- 



otiiany special reference in ihe law creating them 
to the subject of African slavery— ienving the 
whole matter to be adjusted as, in a Republic like 
ours, all questions of lliis kirul should bf — by the 
regularly-ronRtitutcd tribunals of the nation. 

On yesterday, Mr. President, 1 avowcil the doc- 
trine that the people of the territories have a right 
to establish governments f( r their own protection, 
without beinjj specially authorized to do so by an 
act of Congress; at the same time declaring that in 
thus proceeding to establish goveinmont, they 
would be bound to manifest a proper respect to 
all the fundamental principles embodied in the 
Federal Constitution. Let me repeal the declara- 
tion that, in my judgment, the Constitution of the 
republic imposes the only restriction to their action 
on this subject to which they can profierly be sub- 
jected; within the limits of the Constitution they 
may devise just such a government in all respects 
as they may conceive to be necessary for their own 
safety and happiness. But, inasmuch as the aboli- 
tion or exclusion of slavery is not necessary for 
this purpose, and as the right to hold slaves as 
properly is formally guarantied by the Constitu- 
tion, no territorial government thus formed could 
be justly regarded as having authority to hgislate 
adversely in any respect to this important interest, 
and all such legislation would be necessarily in- 
valid; whilst legislation designed simply to protect 
and preserve this institution, being of a nature not 
repugnant to the Constitution, would be entitled to 
respect and obedience. Holding these general 
views as to the inherent right of the people to es- 
tablish a government for themselves — in support 
of which I shall presently cite n very high author- 
ity, which seems to have been heretofore strangely 
overlooked — I cannot perceive the necessity or 
propriety of demanding from Congress a special 
recognition of the right of slaveholders to go into 
the territories, attended by their slave property, 
and to claim the protection of lasv in its behalf 
after its having been thus introduced. What the 
Constitution has secured effectually Congress can- 
not make more secure. To attempt it would be 
but to draw our constitutional rights into question: 
and I must repeat my regret that the Senator from 
Florida has, by insisting upon the congressional 
interposition which he has claimed, more or less 
detracted from those weighty authorities in sup- 
port of our rights, which otherwise would be held 
undeniable. 

[Here Mr. Foote was interrupted by Mr. Yu- 
LEE, who suggested that he had been misunder- 
stood in regard to what he had said touching the 
necessity of having a special provision for the pro- 



tection of slavery in the Territories. A colloquy 
ensued, after which Mr. Foote resumed, as fol- 
lows:] 



Well, Mr. President, I will dismiss this matter 
for the present. I recollect very well what the 
Senator said; but certainly if he is disposed now 
to recall it or explain it away I shall be more than 
content. Indeed, I should like to know that he had 
become a thorough convert to the views stated by me 
on yesterday. I wa.- proceeding, when interrupted, 
to introduce what 1 denrminalcd high republican 
authority in support of the general views insisted 
upon by myself and others here touching the inhe- 
rent right of the people to establish a government 
for ihemselves; and you will perceive presently, 
Mr. President, that it was with good reason that 1 



' spoke of the authority lefcrrcd t<» uh oft* truly re- 

Cublican cast. Letmefltateone or iwo particulars 
ere by way of introduction. We all recollectthat 
in the year 1824 a presidential tliction oorurred.at 
ihe end of a polilicjl canvoes of qrite an exciting 
character, anu which may be saiii i > have been in 
firogress for a year or two |iri ce<luig. There were 
fourcondidutes in the field, nnd .vmong (hem the 
laiei..hn Ciuincy Adums. Whutevtr omnions M^-. 
Adams may afterwards have imbibed, and how- 
ever eccentric he mrvy have been in his public course 
whilst a member of the House of RepresenUitivew, 
all must admit that in 1S24, and for some years 
before, he had been recognized a.9 a prominent and 
'■ influential meml)er of the Republican pnrty,Bnda8 
such had been associated with such personages as 
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and others; enjoy- 
ins, in fact, at the time, the entire confidence of the 
Republican party of the country. Indeed, in 1824 
the Federal parly stinied to have entirely lost ilB 
. identity, and no longer to possess a subsianiive 
and distinct existence. The year previous to the 
presidential election referred to, was occupied very 
actively by the fi lends of the various presidential 
aspirants in ell'orts to conciliate public feeling 
towards the claims of him wh'i chanced to be the 
candidate of their choice. In Virginia, it is well 
known, that extraordinary efforts were mside by 
I several distinguished personages, including: that 
i| sound republican statesman, John Taylor, of Caro« 
' line, to secure the electoral vole of that State to 
Mr. Adams, who was supposed, by Mr. Taylor 
and other gentlemen of influence in Virginia, (for 
what precise reason I am not prepared to state,) 
to be particularly well disposed towards the do- 
mestic institutions of the South. There were, 
however, several distinguished men in Virginia 
who were decidedly hostile to the pretensions of 
Mr. Adams, and who made special exertions to 
. shut him out from the confidence of the good peo- 
ple of that State. General Smythe, then represeni- 
1 ative in Congress from the Wythe district, as- 
sailed him fiercely in the public newspapers and in 
a well-written circular, addressed to his constitu- 
ents, to which Mr. Adams was advised by his Vir- 
ginia friends to respond. In the response published 
by him in 1823, in the columns of the Richmond 
Enquirtr, some ex tracts from which 1 have now 
before me, he vindicated him.self with great zeal 
and energy against the various charges which had 
,• been preferred by General Smythe. Before I pro- 
'' ceed to read these extracts I will premise that the 
I venerable gentleman who now edits the Union, of 
' this city, was then editor of the Enquirer, and was 
then, as now, universally recognized as an able, 
an efficient political writer, perfectly informed in 
party history, and inflexibly devoted to the prin- 
! ciples of the Jeffcrsonian Democratic creed. He 
', was then living in the enjoyment of Mr. Jefferson's 
fullest confidence, nor was there a distinguished 
statesman at thtU period in Virginia, of the repub- 
lican school, who did not entertain for him senti- 
ments of the highest respect and confidence, and 
yield more than ordinary deference to his judg- 
ment in all matters involv'ing the welfare of the re- 
publican cause. Mr. Ritchie published the address 
of Mr. Adams in his paper, and accompanied its 
publication with a short editorial article comn^end- 
•' atory of the general views contained therein, 
: declaring the political doctrines of the address par- 
' ticularly suiud to the meridian of the " Old Do- 



minion." I will-now Fead the exhacta referred to: i 
••Observe th.it I do not now dniy iIip cxisteticn of tliis |l 
authority in' the t'oiislimtMni ; Imi it i- a < luslrwlive power ; i 
and at the tinje wJk-ii 1 wi- i alli d to fi mrd my vuli' iipun it, ; 
thi- q'ie-<tiiiii wa-! <ii'w to nir, and iii-w iiConsrcs-; with rtf- 
creii.-e to lli.- legKlalivi i'.\;>ositioii of thi- f ti<liHilioii. Tlie j 
pr<iirlpl<: had not h>'on settled: nnd it vva>- the (irst time it : 
had ever hccn- made my duty to act, a;! a meinher of the r 
Legi-l,iture,'Upon a tuie'stion involviiis tlie extent of the : 
powers of Goiiares.-. I lielieved, a~ I still lielicve, that the l 
CuMc'tilutinn of the I'liiud Slates was a constitution of lim- 
ited powers.. That soin • oftliese powers must hi:comlruci- ! 
ire, I never doubted ; but that tliis coustruclinii must itself : 
have some liinil:< I was ei|iially'cnnviiiced ; and 1 could not 
re.^onrile it urmy ju.Ii.Mii>iil llial the autli.rity exercised in , 
this section was within the l''j:iiimati- p(pwcrs of Congress j 
coiiforinahle to the ( 'oii>tiiutioii. Wt re the question now a j' 
new one, I have no hesitation in *ayini; that 1 should retain | 
ihe same opinion and ^Ive the same vote. And lam willing ! 
now to record it again ; ami to teave to my counli'y and to 
posterity the opinion that a I the other constructive powers. 
assumed by Congress frOHi the 4th of M:irch, 178!l, to this 
day put together, "are, whether consideri d in themselves or 
in their consequences, unequal to ili^' irinscendent power '[ 
a'sumed, exercised, and granted by that little section. \\ 

'• ft was upon Ihe same principle, a cons ientious belief 
that Congress had not, by the Constitution, ll.e power to ex- 
ercise llie authorities contained in thc-iii, ih.u, in the course 



of tlie same 
Louisiana. > 
They form" 
power, bear 
by the Coiign 



I \ •! ti'jainst the othsr acts relating I 

i ' iMK-ral RmyllM's aildri ss to you. , 
ii I . t -m of alisolulc and unlimited j 
II i;,. p. i.|)|c of Louisiana and e.\ercised 
liir I lilted States. 1 believed that this 
power had not been granted to Congress eiiher by the people [ 
of the United Slates or by the people of Louisiana; and [ 
when it wa5ns^■umed by constrwtiov, 1 eould not perceive 
any limitation to the constructive power which could be 
cottsistetUl'i inaiiitained by those who eould find in the Coii- 
etitution of the United States authority for the exercise of 
all these powers in Louisiana. 

"General Sinytlie has therefoie done me great injustice in | 
drawing from these votes the conclusion thai I was governed | 
in giving them either by principles of faction or by hostility 
to Louisiana. It is well known to tho^.- wiili •>, ii'""i I acted | 

at the lime, as well those whose votes .! i' tiiinc, 

as thtwe who sanctioned by their voii- '! • i i mnsofi 

constructive power.that myvoiee and i'|ii n- \\ . m i f.ivor 

of the acquisition of Louisiana, and ofiiu- raiiluaiioiiorihe 
treaty By whi'h it was acquired. The power to mnkr. tfa- 
• l{« is b^- the t-'oiistitu'ion given to the President, with the \ 
concTirreiw?e of two-thirds of the Si?nators present upon llie 
qgestioii for tin ir ailvlcc and consent wilkoul limitation. It 
% extends to whati vir^an lonn the subject of Jrcjfies between 
eovereign and j|lrfi(.e^i nt ii;itions. Of the power to make 
the treaty, therelore, I had no doubt, as having been granted 
by the Constitution. But the power to inake a tre.aty, and 
Ihe power to carry it into execution are, by the organiza- 
tion 01 our Government, not the same. The fornieris mere- 
ly a iran.-aeiion with a foreign nation To have limited that 
would have been to limit the power of the nation itself in 
its relations of intercourse with other Slates. It would i 
have been an alidication by Ihe nation itself of some of the J 
powers appertaiiiiii'.' to -ovireignly, and have placed it on a : 
footing of iiK ijii lin \> I'll oilier sovereigns. But the latter, ! 
the |iowtr to r iri> .i irr,,i\ into execution, imports the ex- 
ercise of the iiit'rii;i! p hm r.-. of Government, and was suh- 
■'■"■ i«ct to all the liiiiiiatioiis ineserihed by the Constitution to 
the exercise of those powers. In the very message by which 
>'resident Jefferson communicated this- treaty to Congress, 
' • after its ratification hart been exqU:inged, he said," you will 
~0|»Herve that some important conditions cfinnotZ/e carried iii<o 
. execiiiim but with the aid of the L<'!;islature." This i.s a 
' circumstance common to many treaties; and has frequently 
given fHTasion to debates in tln' House of Kepresentatives 
■ how far they are hound to sanciion, in ijiKJr legislative ca- 
pacity, flipulatioii.', with foreign naiioiis, solemnly made and 
lalified by the tn at^-makine power. But the' Louisiana 
purehaite-treaty did, ill luy cqiinion, to he carried into exe- 
cution, require romethlni; more. It required the exercise 
ofpowerH whifh had not been uranted to Congress itself; 
of powern rmerved by tin people of ilie United Stales to 
th<(r<iiielve«, nnd of poweri inherent l>y natural right in the 
people of Louiiiinnn. The union of Ihe two people required 
th« eipreuand formal consentof boih. So far as the riuhts 
of France were concerned, they had bi^en exiiiiguished by 
the treaty. To .>pp-opriate and pay ihe money Ftipniated 
for the purchase ol tlie teiritory. I believeil to be within the 
Irgitiinate powernol Coiiitrefi*; thoush even Ihat wasacon- 
Ktructive (lowur. But Uiat tbe HOciul compact, with all iu 



burdens and all its blessings, all its privileges and all ita 
powers, should be formed betw:^en the people Of the United 
States and the people of Louisiana, was, according to the 
theory of hiiinan rights which I had learned from the Dec- 
laration of Independence, an ael, the sancnaii of which 
could be consumiiiatcd only by themselves. The people of 
the United States had not, much less liad the people of 
Louisiana, given to the Congress of the United States the 
power to form this Union. And until the con.-ent of both 
people should be obtained, every act of legislation by the 
Congress of the United Status over the people of Louisiana, 
distinct from that of taking po.ssessioii of the Territory, was 
in my view unconstitution il, and an act of usurped au- 
thority. 

" .My opinion, therefore, was, that the sense of the people, 
both of the United States and of Louisiana, should immedi- 
ately b(! taken: of the fiist, by an amendment of the Consti- 
tution, to be proposed and acted upon in the rigularform; 
and of the last, by taking the votes of the people of Louisiana 
immediately after possession of the territory should be taken . 
by the United States, under the treaty. I had no doubt that 
tlie consent of both people would be obtained with as much 
ease and little more loss of time than it actually took Con- 
gress to prepare an act for the government of the territory; 
and I thought that this course of proceeding, while it would 
terminate in the same result as the immediate exercise of 
ungrantPd transcendental powers by Congress, would serve 
as a landmark of correct principle for future times, as a me- 
morial of homage to the fundamental principles of civil 
society, to ||.>. nliti'iiv.- sovereignty of the people, and the 
unalienai I' ■ " ■ • m n. 

"Enren n .|>inions on the 3d of November, 1803, 

I voted "III! ill I I III) lor the bill appropriating $U,'3o0,H00 
to carry iiiio t inci ilie Louisiana convention: and in a 
speech "to the Senate upon the pass;ige of that bill, the sub- 
sf^Tiice of which was printed in the National Inti lligencer of 
25th November, 1803, declared at once my approbation of the 
measure, and my belief that, to carry the treaty into entire 
execution, an amendment to the Constitution would he ne- 
cessary. My vote on this bill is recorded in the same jour- 
nals oi" the Senate to which General Smythe has resorted to 
find his charges against me: hut he has not thought proper 
to notice either that or the printed speech, which, if known 
to him, leaves him without excuse for representing to you 
my votes upon the other bills of that session relating to Lou- 
isiana, as having been dictated by a spirit of faction, or by 
hostility to Louisiana. 

" Oii"tlie 25th of November, 1803, as appears by the same 
journals of the Senate, I moved for the appointment of a com- 
mittee to inquire whether any, and if any, what further meas- 
ures were necessary for carrying into effect the Louisiana 
cession treaty. v\'ith leave to report by lull or otherwise. In 
support of ihis motion I stated expl citly that the object of it 
was that the (oiiiniillee should prepare and report for the 
consideration ot the Senate an amendment to the Constitu- 
tion, and a hill prescribing the form in which the sense of 
the people of Louisiana should be taken to sanction, in the 
only form in which 1 conceived it could lawfully be accom- 
plished, the union of the two people into one — the aiiiiexa- 
tion of the inhabitants of Louisiana to the North American 
Union, and i heir accession to all the rishts, privileges, and 
prerogatives, and their subjection to all the duties of the 
citizen: of the United States. On the exposition of these 
objects for the motion the Senate did not think proper to 
appoint the committee which 1 proposed, and ihe only op- 
portunity left me for recording the principle upon whiCh I 
acted was by offering the resolutions which 1 did on the 
10th January, 1804, and by voting against all the acts of Con- 
gress legislating upon the people of Louisiana during that 
sessionT 

" Let me repeat that all these questions as to the extent 
of the powers of Congress were at that time new and un.set- 
tled. Ill forminc my judgment upon them, I had recourse 
only to the faculties ol my own understanding, to the letter 
of "the Constitution, to the first principles of society and 
government, as recognized in our republican in-titutions, 
and to the light of the (li^ciis^ioiis in liuth houses of Congress 
upon that occa>ion. There uns no (ireeedeiit upon the 
record. The annexaliiin of a forcien people to the North 
Ameiican Confederacy formed a new era in our national 
annals. The priiuiple.s upon which that great change in 
our conilition wa- to be i ffeeteil, and the forms by which it 
wa.s to be made lawful, conformahly to the true theory of 
human rights, involved considerations of a magnitude of 
which we are not ytt all aware. The laws of that session 
relative to Louisiana have very recently bi en followed aa 
precedents in the annexation to this Union of the territory 
and people of Florida. In the perfectly regular exercise, 
and for purposes of the most rigorousjustice, of powers iden- 
tical Willi those a-ssuined and giaiite<J by that liiil.' .'section 



9 



which I have quotftd, you have recently witne^^Hi d scenes 
against which tlie halls of Congress, the streets oC your 
cities, the summits of your mountaluti, Hud the echoes of 
your valleys, have resoumJed with clamors of violat''d rights 
and unconstitutional acts of drspotiani. It was not in the 
exeicise l>y General Jackson in 1821 of povveig sd incoin- 
>.)atil>l<i with all our insti utinn; — it was in the asisumption 
and gr:inl by Congress of those powers in 1803 that the real 
constiiutinnal question was involved ; and it is no small 
satisfaction to me that I am enahled to refer you lo those 
very notes which General Siuyiln' inipim s v> unworlliy mo- 
tives for proof that from the fir>t i1m\ lliat I was callid to 
act in your public councils r liavt iielil iln' GivrniiiicM of 
your Union to be a G ivcrnment of liniitid powers; iii.it 
Congress could not lawtully exercise any poweis not (■ranted 
to ihem by the people in the Constitution, and that powers 
in themselves of a transcendental nature ciinnot be assumed 
tiy Konstructionas inci entnl to the expressed powers of ap- 
parent import so much more limited than themselves. 

"Among the citizens who in 1603 and 1804 voted for all 
iheselaws relating to Louisiana, there were some who, upon 
questions of far inferior magnitude, according to my con- 
ception, have been less liberal in their indulgence to con- 
structive powers. It is not for me either to (|nesiion their 
motives or to reconcile their opinions with themselves." 

Indeed, I think, Mr. Pi-esident, that all candid 
men will acknowledge that the vital principle of 
popular sovereignty, set forth so strongly in this 
letter of Mr. Adams, is quite as distinctly a.sserteJ 
m the last of those resolutions introduced in the 
year 1847, by Mr. Calhoun, which, with a view 
of strengihenino my attitude, if possible, iti the 
estimation oi the Senator fro.n Florida, I will now 
read. It runs thus: 

"Resolved^ That it is a fundamental principle in our po- 
etical creed that a people, in torming a constitution, h.ivc 
the unconditional right to form and adopt the govarninent 
which tiiey may think best to secure their libeity, prosperi- 
ty, and happiness ; and that, in conformity thereto, no other 
condition is imposed iiy the Federal Ciinslitution on a State 
in order to be admitted into this Union, except that its con- 
stitution shall be republican; and tliat the impositiim of any 
other by Congress would not only be in violation of the 
Constitution, but in direct conflict with the principle on 
which our political system rests." 

Now, Mr. President, I think we see here pretty 
plainly what were the views of Mr. Calhoun, and 
diose acting with him, in 1847, and also what 
was the doctrine of the Republican parly of 182.3. 
At that time Mr. Adams was a member of it, as i 
Iiave already said, and highly esteemed as such. 
We see on what principles he acted when in the 
Senate of the United States. We see plainly that 
in Virginia, and throughout the Union at large, 
v;hen there was a great outcry in favor of what is 
called the " State-rights doctrines," Mr. Adams's 
letter was recognized as entirely unexceptionable 
in its character. No man then was considered a 
madman, or a traitor to the South, who adhered 
to and asserted the great fundamental principles of 
civil liberty. To these principles I have been 
heretofore a devotee, and expect to remain such 
to the end of rny public career; and I will add, 
that, could I renounce these principles now, or 
even falter in my support of them, I should feel 
myself little worthy to represent the noble constit- 
uency who sent me here, and who have been 
pleased to support my humble efforts to serve 
them upon this floor with a degree of approbation 
of which one far more meritorious than myself 
might be justly proud. 

1 shall not now press upon the attention of the 
Senate the sound principles of constitutional law 
contained in this letter of Mr. Adams. It is 
unnecessary, for he has so distinctly presented 
them, and so cogently enforced them also, that no 
man whose mind is properly constituted, and who 
:s friendly at heart to our free institutions, can fail 



i| to accord to them his hearty homage and support. 
But if the doctrines promulgated by Mr. Adaraa 
! in 1823, as a Republican presidential candidate, are 
thus entitled to favorable considfemtfoii, 1 should 
; like to know how it happen.-i that we hear genile- 
j men who profess to belong to the Stltie-rights 
strict construction school, claiming "for CoiigrcHj* 
j not only authority lo establish territorial govern- 
ments, but authority also to enact lawB designed 
to have the effect in the territories of the Union, 
either of imparting additional force and dignity lo 
jl rights already amply secured by the Constitution 
I, itself, or which, if not so secured, can have no 
II existence at all, for want of a [>r<iper comp-itibiliiy 
I with that sacred instrument. How is it that gen: 
llemen who have been heretofore so jealous of all - 
attempts on tlie part of Congress to legislate on 
the subject of African slavery, and who have, 
with good reason too, professed to fear that any 
^ act of legislation upon this delicate subject, how- 
i ever trivial and unimportant in its character, might 
j serve as a forerunner to acts of aggression upon 
]! the rights of .the South of the most appalling and 
' ruinous nature — how is it, I say,<hat these very 
gentlemen, or that even a single one of this class 
' of persons, can reconcile it to his sense of pro- 
li priety, to ask, yea, to demand, at the hands of 
Congress positive legislation of a most substantial 
I and vital character, which, if it shall once take 
\\ place with the sanction of the South, either cx- 
I press or implied, must inevitably draw after it, 
[j and without much delay too, a sweeping con- 
! gressional enactment, which will utterly exttir- 

I minate our favorite domestic institution, andplunge 

II the whole South in hopeless and remediless ruin? 
!i How is it that professed strict constructionists 
|i can contend for the exercise on the part of the 
■ Federal Government of a power which the most 

subtle and ingenious reasoner that the rqxj.blic 
;! has ever produced, has never been able tp show 
i had the least possible claim to exist, even as «n 
I overstrained implication? I confess thdt 1 fifld^ 
myself totally incapable of ^fnd'efctanding the 
course of certain honorable gentlemen at this 
moment, and I do most seriously fear that they 
are not so fortunate as perfectly to understand 
themselves; else surely they would not fail to 
I descry the natural and inevitable consequences of 
[• their own acts. More especially is the conduct of 
these gentlemen aurprisin?, when all that they 
i seek to obtain at the hands of Congress, by an 
: unconstitutional enactment, will be so much more 
easily and legitimately obtained from the tern- 
! torial governments when they shall have been 
jl duly orsanized, whose solemn duty it will be to 
I afford protection, security, and prosperous vitality 
to all rights of property of whatever kind or de- 
■* scription not incompatible with the Constitution 
: of the United States. This obligation to afford 
protection to rights of property in general will, of 
course, have a peculiarly forcible application to 
, those rights of property specially guanmiied by 
the Constitution itself. 
I Mr. COOPER (from his seat) suggested a re- 
markable coincidence between the recent spe^h 
of General Cass and the doctrine of Mr. Adams's 
letter. 

Mr. FOOTE. Yes, sir, it is true that such co- 
; incidence does exist, and I was so much struck 
I with it as almost to feel some surprise at le,irning 
from my honorable friend from Michigan that he 



10 



had not recently seen .VJr. Adams's letter, and 
ihat he hnJ indeed no distinct recollection of hav- 
\n^ ever read it at nil. 1 should have suggesied 
this coinq^ertfc myself, but for the fact that I am 
regarded !jy ^oiol; as having an ovt: wecnini; nd- 
miraiioii for the disiinguishcd Senator from Michi- 
gan, and a -very particular eympaihy in his politi- 
cal fortunes. ,^ 

Mr' Piesident^«xpeci to be assailed on account 
of my having uirftriaken thus frankly and unre- 
servtdly to decliite my vicv/s upon this profound- 
ly-iniercstinc: and important subject, ii is almost 
impossible that ! shall be so fortunate as to escape 
attack both here and elsewhere. Thiinlt Heaven, 
though, I am prepared to meet all such hostility; 
let it but come in a courteous and parliamentary 
form, and I shall gladly encouiiier it. My con- 
duct about this whole matter has been open and 
undisguised, and 1 undertake to say it has been 
marked with as much consideration fur the opin- 
ions and feelings of others as could in reason 
be demanded. Feeble as are my powers as a 
debater, I feel that I am ready to defend myself 
and my opinions ag«iinsl all who may choose to 
wage v.'ar upon either. My nr.otives 1 know are 
beyond question, and I do not dre d any scrutiny 
which may be insiiiued in rrgard to them. I pro- 
fess to be Si conservat we, in the most expanded and 
mo"?! exalted meaning of that term. 1 perceive 
plainly that uUraism in both sections of the Con- 
federacy is beginning to put on an aspect decidedly 
menacing, i have learned through the Union of 
yesterday tliat a systematic elTort v/ill be probably 
made to induce the Nashville Convention to de- 
mand certain constitutional amenuinenls, known 
to be impossible of attainment, as a sine qua non 
to a settlement of existing ditlerences between the 
North and the South. But for the asserted re- 
spectability of the gentleman to whose letter in 
the Union I have just referred, and ihe fact of its 
publication having been made under the auspices 
of a highly respectable and influential tjiember of 
Congre.ss, I should not have deemed it necessary 
thus to notice its appearance at all. But, looking 
upon the positions assumed in that letter to be of a 
nature hiu:hlyobjectionable,and even mischievous, 
I have felt l)ound not to pas.^ it by without notice, 
though I certainly now notice it without the least 
intention of saying more than that 1 solemnly 
protCKi against its demands. Mr. President, I 
confess that I am ambitious of cooperating with 
patriotic men of all parties at this fearful and 
perplexing crisis, in preserving the safety and 
honor of the South, without endangering in the 
least the safety and honor of the North, and in 
preserving and perpetuating our free institutions 
for the benefit of countless generations yet to 
come. I wish to assist in reestablishing those 
ties of -fraternal affection which once so strongly 
bound together the whole body of our country- 
men, which have been so alnrnningly enfeebled of 
late, and which, it i.s to be ft:ared,'are at this mo- 
ment in danger of utter extinction. This is the 
whole complexion and extent of my ambition, 
and I devoutly beseech the Almighty that he will 
vouchsafe its gratification. Let me be loaded 
viih denunciation, derision, contempt, and even 
infamy, and yet .shall I be able to endure it all 
without a rnurmar, provided tiin' it shall be at the 
same time admitted by my odverpnries that my 
happy cout.lry and iiR free institutions have been 



' rescued, in part by my poor exertions, from the 
'■ overthrow with which they are both now threat- 
i cned by secliontil jealousies, by fierce and fiery 
' tanaiicism, by untempered zeal, and it may be in 
part, also, by ;< selfi>li and unscrupulous ambition 
'j for local ascetidency and influence. I ;im aware, 
I sir, that it has betn predicted that the course 
I which 1 am pursuing will not be approved of by 
I my own constituents. If my friends feel ariy ap- 
|l prehension on this point, 1 beseech them to be of 
j good cheer. If my enernies are anticipating the 
[ discredit which they supf>nse is about to fall on 
I me from being deprived of the countenance and 
support of those patriotic freemen who have made 
me all that 1 am as a public man, and who have 
generously placed me upon a theatre of action 
where I might mingle my energies in liberal ri- 
valry with those eminent patriots and sages and 
j heroes of the Republic whom I see around me, 
J for the promo'ion of the general happiness, and 
i the consummation of our national glory; — 1 can 
I assure them that they v^ill be doomed to utter dis- 
appointment. I do not in the least degree doubt 
that my conduct here will stand afiproved by 
those to whom 1 am chiefly responsible; but even 
if it be my fate to incur condemnation where I 
have hoped for approvfJ, 1 shall never regret for 
an instant what I nm now doing; and I feel au- 
thorized to close this hasty and irregular speech 
with a predicti'in that the indications now so ap- 
parent everywhere in favor of the plan of settle- 
ment before us will continue to multiply upon our 
\ision, until the acclamations of twenty millions 
of people shall be heard to break forth upon the 
consummation of that scheme of peace, of cunciliu- 
lion, and of compromise, which is to mark the 
year 1850 as the most happy and most gloriouK 
in our national annals. 

' Monday, J\]ay'2(J, 1850. 

In reply to the speech of Mr. Clemens, 
Mr. FOOTE said: I regret very much, Mr. Presi- 
dent, that I feel compelled, in mere sell-defence, to 
occupy again the attention ofthisbody, deferring, as 
i I certainly do, most profoundly, to oihergenllemen 
\iOf the Senate, far better qualified than myself to 
I elucidate the great questions now under consider- 
ation; but, sir, all must see that I could not remain 
silent without incurring more or less of discredit, 
' and being suljecfed to strious misconstruction, 
both as to my acts and motives. I could not fail 
j to respond to a part, at least, of what has fallen 
' from tlie lips of the lionorable Senator from Ala- 
Ijama, [Mr. Clemens,] without feeling myself to 
j be wholly unwarthy of occupying a place in thia 
I august legislative assembly. Bin, Mr. President, 
! 1 beg to assure the Senate, and the country, that I 
' entertain such an exalted estiiriate of tiie great ob- 
jects for which we are now struggling, that I have 
' resolved, under no circumstances whatever, to be 
I drawn into controversy merely of a personal 
character, whilst this measure of compromise 
is pending; nor shall 1 be induced, by any prov- 
ocatives which can be administered, to ixrn aside 
I from the consideration of those grave maltere 
I which should engage our whole attention, for 
I the purf.ose of p:iriicipaling in such idle triviali- 
ties as )ia\e in .'onic way or other lately found 
j their way into this debate. No unkind feclinga 
I have been awakened in my bosom upon the 
present occasion by the honorable Senator from 



11 



Alabama, nor have I at any lime cherished feel- !i 
inga towards him which could induce me to seek h 
that sort of heated and almost discourteous dis- ,, 
putaiion, for which it would seem thai the hen- ;! 
orab!e genllentian has shown such n decided pro- •! 
clivity. The path of Senatorial duty lies plainly; 
before me, traversing the platform of the Coristi- J 
tution, midway between ullraism in the North and f 
in the South; and I shall endeavor to tread it i' 
firmly and calmly, without deviating either to the i' 
right or to the left, and without tattering before \\ 
any obstacles which the ingenuity of iiononibie | 
gentlemen may conjure into existence, or which L 
tbe spirit of vain and fruitless controversy may l| 
contrive for my annoyment. The relations ofil 
friendship heretofore existing between the honor- ; 
able Senator from Alabama and mysell', and which j' 
he has been kind enough to recognize as still ex- |! 
isting, will not be broken up, or even temporarily ! 
suspended by any act of mine; nor will it be my 
fault, if, after this debate, we shall not be even 
better friends than before; though I deem it my 
duty to defend myself, with such ability as 1 pos- 
sess, against tlie assailment which lias been prac- 
ticed upon me — to rescue my character as far as 
possible from the charge of gross and ridiculous 
inconsistency which has been preferred, and to 
make good also some of those positions heietofore 
assuined by me, atid which have been so fiercely 
assailed by the Senator from Alabama. I shall 
seek to refrain entirely from the employment of|| 
those terms of invective of which we have had so I 
remarkable a specimen supplied to us this morn- ! 
ing. 1 shall denounce no man as a traitor to the ' 
South, because he chances to differ with me as to 
the general character of the measure before us; | 
nor shall I, even by innuendo, endeavor to throw ,: 
the odium of treachery to the rights and interests <\ 
of the South upon any southern Senator who may [, 
conclude not to vote for the bill after it shall have !| 
undergone such amendment as it may be supposed 
by its friends to need. Nor shall I even charge the ' 
influence of bad motives upon those gentlemen, if i, 
any such there should be, who may be found here- ' 
after cooperating with the adversaries of the South . 
in laying the bill upon the table, or in amending j 
it so as to bring about its defeat m some indirect 
mode. No, sir, I repeat, I shall call no man a j 
traitor for doing any of these things, and 1 regret ■ 
that the honorable gentleman from Alabama has >< 
thought proper to employ language towards my- |i 
self which would seem to imply a belief that my I 
own conduct deserved so harsh an epithet. y 

Mr. CLEMENS. I called no man a traitor, i| 
either directly or indirectly. I was speaking of 
myself. 

Mr. FOOTE. I am very glad to hear the dis- 
claimer. From the manner in which the honora- 
ble Senator expressed himself 1 could hardly put 
any other construction upon his words than that 
which I affixed to them. The honorable Senator 
from Alabama, in speaking of a certain letter- 
writer having so far overvalued my poor standing 
as a public man as to give me credit for having ac- 
qAiired a national reputation, said that it was quite 
easy to establish the sort of national reputation 
thus attributed, by the aid of certain letter-writers, 
if one chose to proie a traitor to the interests of the 
South. These were possibly not the precise words 
employed by the honorable Senator; but 1 under- 
Blood him to say as much as this in substance. 



Mr. CLEMENS. I was speaking of mytolf 

and said that I could do it. 

Mr. FOOTE. I am glad to iiear ihe explanv 
tion, for I must Bay that at the imiejl was iiiiere^l 
I supfiosfd it was nn allusiiMi to u\y>'< .i, * 

Mr. CLEMENS. Not at all. ' 

Mr. FOOTE. 1 am rejoiced to hear tliil auci. 
i.s the fact; though I think my fiicnd from Alubaiiiik 
will find that he was not ttltogethW^Bo cir< umupeci 
in his phraseology as he gcnAlly i.«- I^hI his 
present disclaimer of all unkiitCl»|^itaning in per- 
fectly satisfactory. The honorable Senator from 
•Alabama has supplied us with a new example of 
oratorical self-repetition which, to me al b.a-st, was 
not a little striking. He has read, in our hearing, 
quite copiously from a harangue of hi.s, smne lime 
since delivered in this Chamber, and which, at the 
time of its delivery, awakened much attention both 
hero and elsewhere. Whether the honoral)le gen- 
tleman may not have been actuated as much by a 
desire to rescue so brilliant a specimen of rhetoric 
from oblivion, as by a wish to edify U3 upon 
the points now under di3cu>dion, I shall not 
undertake to decide. I do not object to this re- 
appearance among us of the speech of my honor- 
able friend, nor do I even regard its being de- 
livered a .second time as at al! in vi.ilation of the 
lawsof just criticism. Certain it is that he is not 
without high authority in support of what he hag 
done in the matter; since we all know that Demos- 
thenes delivered one of his Olinthriac orations a 
second time, by a dilTcrent name, after an inter- 
vening period of some ten or fifteen years. A dis- 
tinguished orator of our own country, now a mem- 
ber of this body, is known to have delivered some 
twelve or fifteen pases of a speech on popular 
education in New England, twice also; and the 
numerous admirers of this gentleman's rare intel- 
lectual powers will accordingly find the same mat- 
ter printed twice in the three volumes of his 
speeches as a portion of two distinct orations. My 
honorable friend from Alabama, then, may well 
defend himself against the charge of having been 
at all indelicately egotistical on this occasion, in 
reading so copiously from his own lecently-deliv- 
ered speech, by falling back for authority UDon- 
the high examples which 1 have just cited. Really, 
though, I feel authorized to complain that mv 
honorable friend was not satisfied with being al- 
lowed to reproduce his speech again among us, but 
that he ha;; undertaken to hold me responsible for all 
the views contained in it. Now, as I make a great 
many speeches myself, and most of them without 
special preparation of any kind, I think that it will 
be regarded as quite sufficient by all liberal-minded 
men to hold me responsible for all my own ora- 
torical indiscretions, releasing me from any re- 
sponsibility on account of the sins, either of 
omission or commission., in this line, which may 
chance to be committed by others. 

The honorable Senator, by way of making oui 
a case of rank inconsistency against me, averred 
that I had sanctioned his speech as read, and then 
declared that he had no doubt that I would now 
pronounce it altogether treasonable. In both these 
points, as it seems to mc, the Senator is laboring 
under some delusion. In the first place, I hav« 
certainly not the least recollection of approving 
the view-s contained in the honorable gentleman 'a 
speech at all, though it is certain that I felt grati- 
fied, as one of his early fritn.ls, that he liad made 



12 



30 brilliant an exliibition in our body. Nor do I 
now recollect that I ever read the speech, or any 
part of it, in my life. I certiiinly heard it, and 
was plfftsed with it, so fiir as I was able to catch 
its meaning. In the second place, 1 am by no 
aiertna prepared to denounce that portion of the 
honorable gentleman's sptcrh which has been read 
this morning as at all treasonable; and, indeed, I 
am rather incline Jlo think that, making allowance 
for its being a little uiululy burdened with fantas- 
tic figures of speech, and swelling words of sound 
and fury, I should even now, if f.-rmally called 
upon to pronounce concerning the views contained 
in it, be inclined to express an opinion not alto- 
gether unfavorable. I am sure that 1 thought the 
speech at the time quite skillfully prepared for 
effect, and particularly calculated to produce an 
impression upon the audience to whom it was ad- 
dressed; and if I uttered more or less of commend- 
ation upon it :\nd its author, I doubt not that it 
was sufficiently deserved. It will be discovered 
that what the honorable gentleman has been kind 
enough to read refers to California exclusively, 
and does not at all relate to such a compromise or 
general adjustment of the questions in dispute be- 
tween the North and the South as that wliich is 
now under consideration. 

The next ground upon which the honorable gen- 
tleman thought proper to complain of me was, that 
I had undertaken to speak of Mr. Adams as a re- 
publican statesman, and to quote from his letter of 
1823 certain passages, as declarative of sound and 
approved republican doctrine. Mr. Adams is pro- 
nounced by the Senator from Alabama to have 
been quite an uncertain political guide, inasmuch 
as he afterwards became an abolitionist. Now, I 
confess that 1 cannot exactly perceive what Mr. 
Adams's avowal of abolition doctrines, some 
twenty years after, has to do with his political 
opinions in 1823. If what Mr. Adams wrote in 
1823, and what seems to liave been generally sanc- 
tioned by the Republican party of that period, can- 
not now be commended without exposing one's 
self to the charge of feeling more or less sympathy 
with the abolitionists, then indeed 1 committed a 
gross error in referring to Mr. Adams at all. But 
l imagine that few besides the honorable Senator 
from Alabama will find much difficulty in discover- 
ing how it is possible that a man may be quite a 
safe guide at one period of his life, when writing 
for the purpose of securing the confidence and re- 
.*pecl of a patriotic and intelligent j)arty, and yet 
become subsequently an object of distrust and con- 
demnation, when afterwards, having the reins of 
authority suddenly torn from his grasp, and beirig 
thrown into comparative obscurity, he becomes the 
wretched agent and ringleader of a noisy and un- 
principled factiiin. The Senator from Alabama 
seems t^> me to have grossly underrated the intelli- 

fencc; of the southern people, if he supposes that 
y fuch ingenious expedients as he has adopted, 
he can succeed in awakening the least prejudice 
against me. 

Another accusatifiii has been presented against 
me by the honorable Senator from Alabama, which 
18 really nniusing. He accuses me of being a sup- 
porter of the piesent Administration. This accu- 
sation is accompanied with a charee against the 
Senator from Kmiucky, [Mr. Clav,] that he is 
inimical to the Administration. This friendship 
on my part to those in power, and the alleged hos- 



■ tility of the Senator from Kentucky, are" asserted 
to have been exhibited in connection with the 

, measure now under consideration. All this must 
be a little surprising to those who are aware that 
the Senator from Kentucky and myself are recog- 
, nized by the Senator from Alabama, in the very 
I speech which I am now answering, as " co-iabor- 
ers" in support of the scheme of compromise now 
i in progress. I confess that I am not able to per- 
ceive how one of us could evince friendsliip and 
the other hostility to those in power, by supporting 
the self-same measure, and by declaring precisely 
the same general views in support of it. 

But the honorable gentleman supposes that I 

must be in favor of the famous non-action policy, 

if 1 doubi the power of Congress, upon a strict 

J, interpretation of the Federal Constitution, to es- 

' lablish a territorial government at all. Well, sir, 

the honorable Senator from Michigan, [Mr. Cass,] 

and other Demorrati'" worthies of almost equal 

consideration, will have to be recognized also as ' 

I supporters of the non-action policy, since they 

have, as well as myself, declared that no such 

1 power as this of establishing territorial govern- 

[i ments seems to them to have been given to Con- 

j: gress by the Constitution, and that the exercise of 

i itr could only be excused upon the ground of over- 

1 ruling necessity. 

■ Upon this point the honorable gentleman thought 
proper to be quite facetious, and observed, with 
an originality quite imposing, that politics, like 
misery, sometimes makes strange bedfellows. I 
thank the gentleman for the hint, and will beg 
leave to suggest to him that I fear that this fine 
saying of his will presently become more applica- 

, ble to others than to myself, when they shall be 

found cooperating with Abolitionists and Free- 

I Soilers in their eftbrts to defeat this bill. So long 

I as I shall continue to vot» with the high-toned 

i patriots with whom I am now acting, I shall not 

fear the application of the maxim, ^^ noscitur a 

sociis." I hope that my honorable friend from 

t Alabama will be found in the sequel of this con- 

I test to be equally free from suspicion on account 

' of the objectionable opinions of those with whom 

' he may be found acting. 

But, really, does the honorable Senator not 
perceive the injustice of charging me with favoring 
the non-action policy, when he considers that 1 
am now earnestly urging the most extended and 
; comprehensive action which can possibly take 
i place in the adjustment of all the questions grow- 
I ing out of slavery.' Let me ask him if he does 
not apprehend that he may himself be accused, 
and with effect too, of favoring this same non- 
action policy, by those who shall ascertain that 
■ he, with his eyes perfectly open to the conse- 
quences likely to entue, has struggled to defeat 
this measure of compromise — knowing, as he 
could not but do, that if he succeeded, the non- 
action policy would be necessarily acted upon — as 
California would then, in all probability, be ad- 
milted as a separate measure, and no territorial 
governments be established in Utah and New 
j Mexico, until the people of these territories should 
; be ready to claim admission as Stales.' Let me 
assure my friend, in all solemnity, that the dis- 
;' cerning people of the South will not fail to under- 
i stand this whole matter, and that they will certainly 
: hold tho.^e to a rigid responsibility who shall take 
' It upon themselves, from whatevermotivss.to favor 



19 



the adoption and enforcement of ihis wrulched non- 
action policy, which is to keep open the disirnciing 
questions which have f^o long agitated the country 
for nn indefinite period of time, give a nio3t bane- 
ful pcui. if'ice to the military government now 
in operation .r New Mexico, and be productive 
of other consequences ef|U-.illy to be deplored by 
all good patriots, if they yhall be brought upon us. 

But, sir, my honorable friend from Alabama has 
undertaken not only to accuse me on this occasion 
of having been guilty of various grievous political 
offences, but he has taken it upon himself to play 
prosecutor, court, and jury , in a very regular man- 
ner indeed. He has undertaken " /" try" me first, as 
he says, by the " congressional record," and then 
by speeches " deliberately prepared and deliber- 
ately revised," which last 1 understand to be in 
part his own speech already referred to, and which 
he avers that I sanctioned fully, and in part 
speeches delivered by myself. Well, sir, I hope, 
if my honorable friend, who has thus subjected 
me to trial, should he manage to convict me, will 
at least not subject me to hanging or other severe 
capital punishment. 

In reference to the extract read from the honor- 
able Senator's own speech, I have said already, 
that I have not found any particular fault with tt, 
though, as I have already stated, I have never yet 
read the speech of which it constitutes a part. In 
relation to my own speeches, 1 have heretofore 
challenged the production of any proof of incon- 
sistency upon the question of admitting California; 
and I now feel justified in asserting, after the 
elaborate effort made by the honorable gentleman 
to put me at variance with myself, that he has read 
not a .single extract from any of my speeches, 
numerous as they have been, from the beginning 
of the session up to the present hour, which I do 
not now sanction, and which I could not now re- 
utter, without feeling myself to be in the least 
possible danger of being accused by any one, not 
underthedominign of personal prejudice, orstrong 
adverse feeling of some kind, of having been guilty 
of the least inconsistency whatever in relation to 
this question of admission. Always have I here- 
tofore declared that, to admit California as a sepa- 
rate and distinct measure, unaccompanied with 
such a settlement of all the questions growing out 
of slavery as would be calculated to secure com- 
pensating advantages of some kind, and among 
them the inestimable blessing of social quiet and 
freedom from annoyment for the future, would be 
an act so unjust, so insulting, and so grossly in- 
iquitous as to justify the South in resorting to any 
means of resistance necessary for the vindication 
of her honor and the establishment of her domestic 
security, upon foundations too stable to be here- 
after disturbed or put in danger. But, whilst en- 
tertaining and expressing this view of the subject, 
I have as uniformly maintained, up to the present 
moment, that the admission of California, what- 
ever informalities may have occurred in bringing 
about her present political organization, provided 
the measure of admission should constitute only 
one portion of a general scheme of adjustment and 
compromise, upon the whole satisfactory in its 
character, would, in my judgment, not only nut 
be serious cause of complaint to the South, but 
might, with some plausibility at least, be hailed as 
a measure of high national importance, and entitled . 
to command the general approval of the counuy. 



I know that I hove en'erLiined no other views 
since the California quoBiion firnt nroHc for con- 
'' sideration. Let me notify the honorable Senator 
from Alabama of one or two facts in my own his- 
tory on this Kubjeci, of Huch a nature that when 
! he le irns them, lie will himself be (icrfcctly per- 
j suaded that he has done rne the most cruel injus- 
I ticc in accusing inc of shifting my poMiion in rc- 
! gard to the act of California aJmisi?ion. It has 
t now been more than two years aii ce I urged the 
expediency of at once providing for the admission 
I of California as a State in tlie year Ib.'iO. I be- 
^ lieved then, and so announced here, that the pop- 
ulation of California .as likely to increase very 
I rapidly, and that before the year just named, she 
would have a population sutficienily larjrc to be 
entitled to claim admission as a State. It wa.smy 
' opinion, that if we thus provided by law for bcr 
I eventual admission, the agitation of the slavery 
I question in connection with the formation of her 
State G vernment would be probably precluded, 
I and thai ^»'hen she should apply for actual admis- 
; sion, her o institution being silent on the subject of 
slavery, no sectional feeling would be likely to ar- 
ray itself against the measure; so that the people 
i of that distant region would be thus allowed, in 
' their own good time, to arrange this de'icate mat- 
ter according to their own discretion. In this 
view of the subject, I was decidedly opposed l)y 
I my southern friends here, and I desisted. Not 
entirely disouraged, I urged the honorable Sena- 
tor from Illinois, [Mr. Douglas,] just before the 
beginning of the last session cf Congress, to intro- 
duce a bill for the admission of California; which 
he will be recollected to have done, and which he 
would have done, for aught I know to the con- 
' trary, had my application to him never been 
made. This measure was opposed most strenu- 
' ously, both from the North and the South, and 
I ultimately failed. 

We!l,^ir, not yet entirely discouraged, and still 
desirous of seeing California brought into the 
i Union as a State — a measure which I could not 
help foreseeing could not be long postponed, at 
any rate — I resolved to make an attempt to connect 
the measure of artmission, if possible, with a prop- 
osition to establish territorial governments in New 
I Mexico and Deseret, and another for the establish- 
ment of a new State in Texas, east of the Colo- 
rado or Brazos rivers, with a viesv to keeping up 
something like an equilibrium in our system; and 
being particularly desirous, for obvious reasons, 
that this scheme of fraternal settlement should 
originate with southern men, I wrote to Mr. Cal- 
houn during i!:e late summer, and urged upon him 
that he should himself bring forward this scheme 
of adjustment — being exceedingly desirous that he 
should secure to himself that increa'^e of pfrsona! 
popularity and political influence which 1 confi- 
dently believed would accrje to him as iho origin- 
ator and chief patron of thisgreat measure. Un- 
fortunately for the South, and for the country, as 
I shall always think, Mr. Calhoun hat! resolved to 
take ground in opposition to the admission of Cal- 
ifornia, and not only declined moving in the matter 
himself, but earnestly persuaded me to desist from 
all action in regard to it until we could meet and 
confer upon the subject, on our meeting in Wash- 
ington, at the commencement of the then approach- 
I ing session of Congress. A friend of my own, 
! and a devoted friend of Mr. Calhoun, now pres- 



14 



ent, (Mr. John S. Brtrbour, of Virsinia,) saw Mr. 
Calhoun's letter, in which he declined taking the \ 
course which I had thus solicited him to take; and 
he will be ready to attest, i\t any time, the deep mor- ; 
tification which 1 felt at Mr. Calhoun's refusal to j 
pursue 11 course which 1 confidently believed syould 
secure to him the glory of bein^ recognized in all , 
coming time as the Pacificatou of ih.^ Re|)ublic. 
Thus disappointed, I renewed my efforts during 
the first days of the present Con^res.", to employ the i 
measure of Californian admission as the chief tie- j 
ment of a plan of compromise, which was, as I ' 
then hoped, to save the South and the Union. But 
I confess, among southern members of Congress, ; 
I met with so much discouragement that, being ! 
unwilling to do anything to divide the South, in j 
her then exposed and imperilled condition, ! relin- | 
quished the design which 1 had formed, by the i 
introduction of a single measure, such as the bill now ] 
before us, to accom()lish that great work of adjust- 
ment which we at last see almost consummaied. 
Then it was that, after resisting the resolutions in- 
troduced by the honorable Senator from Kentucky; 
which I then thought, and still think, however well 
intended, as doubtless they were, were decidedly 



am really almost ashanied of having varied so little 
my phraseology in the twenty or thirty speeches 
I have trade in the hearing of the Senate. No ad- 
mission of Californit), as a separate and substantive 
scheme — the admission of California, as part of a 
general scheme of coinpromise, embracing the e?- 
tablishitient of territorial governments, icithmU tht 
Wilmot proviso, has been my constant cry, from 
tie first Monday of last December up to the very 
day which is now passing over our heads. In- 
deed, nriy friend from Alabama is perfectly wel- 
come to press this, his chief accusation against 
me, just us far and as long as he plea.ses. I feel 
that I am al)Solulely secure against all that he can 
say upon this subject. 

But the honorable gentleman alleges again that 
on the day when 1 introduced my teriitorial bill 
here, and spoke in answer to the honoralile Sena- 
tor fr m Missouri, who siis over the way, [Mr. 
Bemton,] I asserted that my iiopes of compromise 
were then almost extinct. And he asserts that I 
furthermore declared that the offensive resolutions, 
which had been then recently adopted in Vermont, 
atid several other States of the North, on the sub- 
j ject of slavery, should prevent any southern mer 



unjust to the South in several particulars then spe- 1 her of Congress from bringing forward a propO' 



sition of consnromise, and that the first compiomise 
proposition should come from the North. This is 
all true; but yet it is not true that 1 have been 
guilty as charged of tlie inconsistencies imputed 
to me, in afterwards introducing a plan of com- 
promise, under circumstances not at all changed. 
It is even not true that I have introduced any 
(plan of compromise at all. My answer to all 
this will be equally as effectual as anything 



cined — I resolved, on consultation with several 
sage friends, to move the raising of a special com- j 
mittee, for the purpose of maturing some such i 
scheme of adjustment as the bill now before us, I 
the great outlines of which have been perfectly 1 
famihar to all intelligent minds in every part of the 
Republic for more than three months past. Mean- [, 
while we have had to pass through a severe strug- i 
gle in order to raise the special committee, and to 

keep the various parts of the plan of comprotnise jl which I have yet said. In the fir.-t place, I 
proposed in a state of conjunction, with a view to jl have simply proposed a special committee for con- 
securing the more certain attainment of the great j ference and consultation. 1 was not, as the hon- 
result so much to be desired. I shall not go into jj nrable member well knows, even a member of 
particulars now in regard to tlie scenes just alluded \\ the committee of thirteen, by whom this excellent 
to; they are before the country, and will 1h:)ubtlcss jj scheme of adjustment was matured and reported. 
be properly appreciated. At last we have reached [j In the second place, I have to say that my hopes 
almost to the end of our labors. California has ■] of eventual compromise, so nearly extinct at the 

f)eriod referred to by the honoiable Senator, were 
afterwards iiieatly revived by the noble concilia- 
tory speech delivered here by the Imnorable Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts, who sits nearest me, 
[Mr. Webster,] and who, though perhaps ma- 
king no declaration which was ab.sokiiely new, nor 
going further in any material resnect than several 
Democratic Senators from the North had previ- 
ously gone in acknowledgment of southern rights, 
yet presented such a toul ensemble of equitable 
propositionsof various kinds, portrayed in his own 
graphic and imposing manner — such a coinprehen- 
' sive and practical plan of pacification and settle- 
ment, and appealed so powerfully to the con- 



nol been admitted as a sep.-^rale measure. Terri- 
torial bills embodying the Wilmot proviso have 
nol yet passed. A bill for the admission of Cali- 
fornia as a State, as part of a general scheine of 
aetllcmeiif, is before us. A proposition to estab- 
lish territorial governments for New Mexico and 
Utah, xrithcvt the Wilmot proviso, (all that the 
South desired on this head twelve months ago,) is 
before us also as a part of the general plan of com- 
promise. A proposition for the establishment of 
the Texas and New Mexican boundary question 
upon satisfactory princi|)les is also a part of this 
great plan of pacification. An efficient bill for the 
restoration of fugitives froin labor is also recom- 

mcndei! to us for adoption, in connection with the jj sciences of our northern l)reihren,'and their love 
other measures just specified. For all these have ,! of country, that 1 venture to assert that there 
I been laboring, in a subcnlinate capacity, truly, |i was no southern man who either heard him, or 
but zealously, actively, and without iritermission, ij who read his speech after its delivery, who did 
from the beginning of the sepsion up to the present l| not feel that new ground of hope had been sup- 
rnoment; and yet my friend from Alabama accuses ,\ plied, and that the door of comproni.se had been 
me of the most shameful changes and inconsititen- j] at last opened in a most f<)rmal manner by the 
cieii. Thniik Ileavm, thougii, all the evidence | hind of a northern man, whose peculiar altitude 
which he hBH attempted to array against me has !' in the country was such as to enable him to do all 
been ofa n iturc to enure to my tieftnce, instead of |' for the redress of our wrongs, and for our exemp- 
operaiinf,' to my injury. Every extract from my it tion from future aggression, which he sremed so 
Kperchea whi< h he has rend is in absolute harmony \[ earnestly to desire. Then it was, I cor.fess, that 
uttii my prcticnt attitude; and ho uniform have I my own hope of compromise revived; then it was, 
bcc n in my language on this great liubject, thui 1 that, without violating any antecedent declaration. 



15 



I should have felt justified, though iv southerci 
Senator, in prop<isiri^ tcims ofttdjusimeni; wliich 
Ididnotdn,thr)ush — conieniins; myself with ure;ing 
without inieruii.'-'.sioM my moiimi for a sjieciiil com- 
mittee. Surely luy fiirnd from Al.ibuma. will him- 
self perceive, tifter this explttii.iiion, ihui he has 
done me great injusiice in chiirsiui; me v/iili oflTer- 



"Tliid I Iml r<»ol\fd V> otTer a» n new ^eliim' of eompro- 
mitt; wliirli, Willi ihe inlHlilliiliinLiit of u Ifrniorliil ^uvtrn- 
iiiiril ill Niw Mf«lco, in D.-.rr -t and Cullf'Tiiia, snil Ih* 
iilliiimie ail.i.UHHiiinft'iilifnriiia ii» u Buie, when fried from 
liiT iiriM'iil iiiiliiriunali' nrKaiilziiUoii, I linpi-d iihkIiI ti-ii<l to 
MUlc- llir vcii'd tjiii-hUoii til llii VViliiixipiuvKui loii vcr.'* 

Yes, nir, I iiiHislcd iheii ihnt no scheme of cih- 
sioii should he proposed l'> Texfin which did not 



no safeijmird j did 1 tliiiik it at all necessary. But 1 
of any kind against the Wilmoi proviso, nor re- jj voi- to gel through tlie remainder of 
cognized, in the leanl degree, as I un.lerslood its 
nd as I yet undcrsiand ihcm, the 



ing terms of compromise, after I had declared tliat !l cautiously resrrve lo the lerritory in xchiclithr n^/i* 
no southern man could do so without dissrace. ■, o/propnltj in tht public litudi was to be pujchntrd llit 
But the honorable gentleman ulleg. i thai, afier ] princiijle if compromise embodird in lite rtsolutionaof 
denouncing the plan intnulu'^d here l.y the den- ; anmxation; this very thing wat. done by the report 
ator from Mis.souri [ Vlr. Benton] fir the cession \ of the committee; and yet the honorable Senator 
of a portion of the territory of Texas to the 1 from Alabama can see no difference in this le-npecl 
United Slates as being unjust and injurious to the 1' between the bill of the Senator from Missouri and 
South, and calculated to exiend 'he dominion of i; the present one Well, sir, if l^am not so foriu- 
free soil, I am now willing to do the same thing— as !; nale as to satisfy the honorable Senator from Ala- 
he imagines is proved by my .■support of this bill, j bama on this point, I liope lo have better luck 
Sir, the honorable Sen.uor seem.- to ine to have ex- Ij with persons a little h^ss prejudiced, and not quite 
amined this matter but very superficially indeed, !j so much inclined lo detect inconsisicncus which 
else he never could have urged this accusation ! have no existence except in his own imagination, 
against me. He overlooks seve'-al material facts, of , There were various other topics descanted upon 
which i will take leave to remind him. Tiie fiist 11 by the honorable Senator from Alabama, upon 
is, that the bill of the Sena:or froni Missouri was ' which I should be willing to offer n few rcmarkd, 
a bill of cession .^imply, ami sjopbed no safegutird i tli'' ' ll'-i"k it at all necessary. But I shall endea- 
I J'' - - ti ^ IJ , ,. ., :.... '^ ihe disagree- 
able task impo.sod upon me in as concise a manner 
a:J possible. Two ot'ier matters there arc, though, 
which i cannot consent altogether to iiasa by. 
The honorable Senator, in order to make out a 
case of inconsistency against me, undertook to 
bring forward a certain proviso, which he gravely 
told us was moved in the House of Rejiresenla- 
tiv.s in 1847, and passed by the concurrent votes 
of all the southern members of that body. He 
read this proviso to us for the purpose of show- 
ing that southern Congressmen, only three years 
ago, all agreed to support a proposition similar 
in its character to tlie ©ne demanded by the 
Senator from Florida on last Thursday, that is 
to say, claiming special and additional protec- 
tion from Congress to southern rights in the ter- 
ritories; and yet, after all, it turned out, on the 
showing of the honorable Senator from Georgia, 
[Mr. Cerri!:n,] that no such proviso had, in fact, 
ever passed either House of Congress, and '.hat it 
was only an amendment which had been reported 
from the' Committee on the Judiciary in the Sen- 
ate, and never acted upon at all anywhere. 1 rec- 
ommend to the honorable Senator from Alabama 
to be a little moie particular hereafter in the ascer- 
tainment of historical facts b»fore he ventures so 
boldly into the arena of controversy as an ac- 
cuser. 

Again, the honorable Senator, with a view of 

I still further confirming his charge of inconsistency, 

indulges in a silly of humor which he, at least, 

seemed to regar.i as of a .-liaracttr quite cntei:ain- 

ing to his audience. These are iiis words: 



provisions 

lidity and binding force of the Texan compact of 
annexation. Now, this same coiripact has embo- 
died in it a principle of compromi.se in regard to 
slavery, which secures the entrance of that insti- 
tution into all the territory proposed to be ceded 
which is south of the lineof 3G° 30' north latitude. 
The omissiop to recognise the continued opera- 
tion of this principle, I was apprehensive might 
invite the advocates of the Wilinot proviso to 
make an effort to apply it to all the lerritory which 
Texas should be induced to transfer lo the United 
Stales. This deficiency is fully supplied by the 
report of the committee, which recognises, in the 
most emphatic manner, the articles of Texan an- 
nexation, as an absolute and irrevocable compact 
in all its part.s; including, of course, not only the 
provision of four additional Statea wiiliin her limits, 
but the principle of compromise in regard lo slave- 
ry likewise. To show what v/as my precise ob- 
jection lo the proposition of the Senator from 
Missouri, it is sufficient to glance for a moment, at a 
portion of my speech in opposition lo it which the 
honorable Senator from Alabama has done me 
the honor to cite on this occasion for the purpose of 
convicting me of inconsistency. Speaking of the 
bill of the Senator from Missouri, 1 said: 

"Th<- bill iiciw tirni>2lit forward, a- will lie pcrceivtd liy 
ttiosc who will ixiiiiiiH' it, llnlli(i(^s thi-i Rtis^oiiri corupirt- 
mise principle in all lii*- tcnititry iir.iposcd Id be piirclKiscd, 
and every nere of U is pirued in llie same pli;;lit niid con- 
dition preeiselv as Caliloriiia and our oilier recciilly ac- 
quired possessions." 

Speaking afterwards of my own territorial bill, 
as it was originally draughted, I said: 

" I proposed to pa> to Texas a sptrific siiiii, just one-half 
of the sum now profmsed hy the Seimior from iMissouri, for 
liet ownership of the puldio land; situated in the coiinliy 
commonly e:.lled N-w Mexico, imrtli of the lino to bi- run 
in an easterl' din ction from the P.iso dtl Norte 10 the head- 
waters of the Ri d riv( i; cautiously rcservine, though, to the 
territory in which the nent of property in "a portion of the 
public lands was ilins t<i lie purchased, the priiiciplt- of com- 
promise emhoditd in llifi rejolulions of aiiinxniion. Tni.-* 
reservation, it will he at once perceived, is an arra'-Eom'-nt 
which cannot be dispensed with witliout incurrii.? Uie risk 
Of imme.diat'ly inultiplyini,' i;:c nunitierof frne States, and 
deeply eiidangeriiigUie whole - " — -<•.,.„,, 



southern section of the Union. 



" Not lonz since, Mr. President, the Senator from Mi8»i3- 
Flppi and niystll were pulling s de by side in llie same traces. 
I must add, also, that ( found lilni so tiery a yoke fellow, I 
was nearly broken down in trying to keep up witli bioi. 
Now we are as wide apa'rtas the poles." 

Well, sir, it is even true lliat the gentleman 
from Alabama and myself were once closely asso- 
ciated here, and I anticipated much harmony and 
political good-fellowship with him. To use i.id 
own striking figure of speech, we pulled for a few 
weeks very quietly together in the same tra e.-. 
Whether the gentleman was nearly " broken 
down," as he complains, in trying to keep up with 



16 



me, I am certainly not prepared to decide; nor will 
I undertake either to decide whether or not he has 
in point of fact broken doun, as lie styles it, from 
any other cause. But this I du know, an<i the 
whole Senate will well recollect, that the first and 
otjiy occasion of disagreement between the honor- | 
able ijen'.leman and myself which has arisen here, 
previous to the present occasion, was when he 
undertook one day, not less to my surprise than 
to my chagrin, to denounce the whole northern 
Democracy as enemies to the South; ainon^ whom 
the South has as bold, honest, persevering, and 
faithful friends as she can find within her own 
limits. When my honorable friend thus fairly 
kicked liini.<-elf out of li.e Democra'ic traces, I in- 
terfered for the purpose of assuaginjj his fiery im- 
petuosity, and curbing his unprofitable rage. I 
opine that if we are now as far as the, poles asun- 
der, it is not so much my fault as liis own; but I I 
am willing to leave this delicate point to be de- | 
cided by those who are most familiar with the 
facts of the case. 

And now, Mr. President, let me conclude by 
appealing to my h-inorable friend f'-om Alabavi.'-, 
and such other of my southern friends as have 
resolved upon cooperating with him in his efforts j 
to defeat this plan of conrpromise, and beseech | 
ihem to desist before it shall be too late for them j 
to retrace their steps, and avoid the deleterious 
consequences of their acts. 1 heg them to bear 
in mind that they must vote for this compro- | 
mise, or they must sustain the policy of ncn- ! 
action. They must agree to the admission of! 
California, Tioupled with certain compensating ad- | 
vantaijes of inestimable vhlue, or they must pre- i 
pare to see California come in alone; the territories 
without governments; the Texas and New Mexico I 
boundary line unsettled; and the fugitive slave I 
bill (the only truly efficient bill of the kind ever I 
yet uevised) subjected to defeat. Let me ask them 
if they are prepared to contribute to this direful | 
result.-' Are they willing to mingle their energies ' 
with those of the worst enemies of the South in i 
bringing about this state of things.' Can they I 
expect to awaken in the South a feeling of indig- 
nation against those who shall have contributed I 
to bring California in:o the Union without any i 
countervailing advantages — who .shall have aided 



in introducing two additional votes, adverse to 
southern interests, into each House of Congress, 
upon all the questions connected with the subject 
of slavery which will be left unadjustf d,— can 
they expect to excite the people of the South to 
measures of stern resistance against the enemies 
that shall have cooperated for their degradation 
and ruin, without being compelled theniselves to 
submit to hear the language of fierce and blasting 
rebuke for not warding off these hideous evils 
when they had it in their power to do so.' I 
menace no inan;l have no right to do so; but [great- 
ly overrate the sagacity of the people of the South, 
if they do not easily understand this whole pro- 
ceeding, and if they shall not, in the case described, 
if it ever shall ari.se, prove themselves capable of 
rewarding appropriately those who shall -fail to 
understand their duty as Il.3presentatives and Sen- 
ators at this trying crisis; or, understanding it, 
shall, from any motives, decline its performance. 
Let no man rely upon the Nashville Convention 
for extreme remedies. That wi,?e and patriotic 
body — as I do not doubtit will prove itself to be — 
.viH i.ever, unuer any monitions which its mersj- 
bers may receive from Washington, or from any 
other quarter, be persuaded to demand the adoption 
of impracticable alterations in the Federal Constitu- 
tion, for the redress of grievances, the removal of 
which it is now easy to obtain by the ordinary pro- 
cess of legislation. The dark and baleful spirit of 
disunion cannot find its way into that noble assem- 
blage of patriots and statesmen who will shortly 
hold high council for the preservation of the South 
and of the whole Republic. I predict that no rec- 
ommendation will come forth from that conven- 
tion of a nature to raise the least obstacle to an 
equitable adjustment of all pending questions. I 
venture to prophesy in advance that all the delib- 
erations of the body will be characterized by mod- 
eration, by good sense, by pure love 'of country, 
an inflexible devotion to .southern rights, a sincere 
regard for the union of these States, and an anxious 
desire to aid the two Houses of Congress in re- 
storing the blessings of peace, concord, reciprocal 
confidence, and fraternal feeling, which alone are 
now wanting to make us the happiest people thai 
the sun ever shone uoon. 



LiBRftRV OF CONGRESS 



011 898 085 2 



HOLUNGER 
pH8.5 

MILL RUN F3-1543 



